I 


RETAIL  LUMBER  SHEDS 

AND 

SALES  EQUIPMENT 


BY 

ROBERT  Y.  KERR 


AMERICAN  LUMBERMAN 
CHICAGO 


3> 


A 


COPYEIGHT,  1917,  BY 

THE  AMERICAN  LUMBERMAN 
CHICAGO 


PREFACE 

No  argument  for  the  building  of  lumber  sheds  is  ad- 
vanced in  this  book.  The  increasing  value  of  lumber  and 
the  tightening  of  competition  have  made  it  necessary  for 
retailers  to  avoid  all  possible  losses,  including  those  of  stock; 
so  it  is  taken  for  granted  that  readers  recognize  the  value  of 
adequate  sheds  and  that  their  interest  centers  rather  in  the 
planning  of  structures  suited  to  their  own  specific  needs. 

All  the  building  principles  discussed  in  the  succeeding 
pages  have  been  checked  up,  so  far  as  that  has  been  possible, 
by  the  actual  experience  of  practical  lumbermen.  It  has 
not  been  possible  to  collect  a  series  of  plans  each  one  of  which 
without  modification  would  be  suitable  for  all  parts  of  the 
country.  Differences  in  climate  and  in  the  kinds  and  sizes  of 
lumber  carried  in  the  yard  make  necessary  a  difference  in 
the  details  of 'any  given  type  of  shed.  But  it  is  hoped  that 
the  designs  included  in  this  book  may  be  of  help  to  the 
retailer  who  is  in  search  of  suggestions. 

A  number  of  plans  have  been  included  that  were  first 
published  in  the  AMERICAN  LUMBERMAN.  Others  have 
been  taken  from  "Lumber  Shed  Construction,"  by  Met.  L. 
Saley.  Still  others  have  been  made  especially  for  this  book. 
Assistance  has  been  given  by  so  many  people  that  it  is  impos- 
sible to  mention  them  all  by  name ;  but  the  compiler's  thanks 
are  extended  to  all  those  who  gave  so  generously  of  their  time 
and  experience.  Without  this  help  the  book  could  not  have 
been  written. 


371727 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

INTRODUCTION   5-7 

LOCATION   8-12 

MATERIALS  OF  CONSTRUCTION 13-19 

SALES  EQUIPMENT 20-41 

SHED  ARRANGEMENT    42-45 

FOUNDATIONS  AND  BEARINGS 46-51 

ALLEYS 52-56 

GALLERIES 57-61 

BINS   62-65 

VENTILATION   66-69 

LIGHTING  70-72 

MOLDING  STORAGE 73-76 

FLOORING  STORAGE  AND  WARM  ROOMS. 77-78 

TIMBER  STORAGE  AND  HANDLING  EQUIPMENT 79-84 

SPECIAL  MILLWORK  STORAGE 85-86 

END  STORAGE  SHEDS 87-89 

FIRE  RISK  REDUCTION 90-94 

A  HOODED  OPEN  SHED 95-97 

AN  UNUSUAL  OPEN  SHED 98-100 

A  MODERATE  COST  SHED 101-102 

A  SEMI-ENCLOSED  SHED 103-104 

A  DOUBLE  OR  UMBRELLA  SHED 105-108 

AN  EASILY  FRAMED  SHED 109 

A  PROGRESSIVE  COUNTRY  YARD 1 10-112 

A  MODIFIED  DOUBLE  ALLEY  SHED 113-116 

A  WIDELY  COPIED  WAREHOUSE 1 17-1 26 

A  NORTHERN  RETAIL  AND  DISTRIBUTING  YARD.  ...  127-132 
A  CAREFULLY   PLANNED   DOUBLE-ALLEY  WARE- 
HOUSE  fSS-H1 

A  MODEL  YARD  IN  THE  SOUTHWEST 142-152 

A  THREE-ALLEY  SHED 153-154 

A  SHED  OF  SIMPLE  FRAMING 155-156 

ODD. GROUND  PLANS 157-164 

4 


INTRODUCTION 

The  building  of  storage  sheds  has  been  a  comparatively 
late  development  in  the  lumber  business.  When  the  first 
sheds  were  built  a  generation  or  more  ago  the  builders  had 
no  practical  experience  to  follow.  They  drew  on  their  imag- 
ination or  else  copied  structures  designed  for  other  pur- 
poses, and  as  a  result  they  made  a  good  many  mistakes.  These 
mistakes  were  most  apparent  in  the  larger,  inclosed  ware- 
houses. Lumbermen  realized  the  importance  of  ventilation 
only  when  the  piles  became  damp  and  began  to  mold.  They 
found  that  a  1 2-foot  alley  is  scarcely  better  than  no  alley  at 
all.  They  discovered  that  the  size  and  arrangement  of  bins 
have  much  to  do  with  the  ease  of  handling.  But  after  the 
first  mistakes  had  been  corrected  by  experience  the  develop- 
ment of  shed-building  principles  was  rapid,  and  satisfactory 
designs  were  speedily  worked  out.  Many  of  the  sheds  built 
years  ago  are  still  giving  good  service. 

Changes  and  improvements  are  still  being  made,  and  it  is 
not  safe  to  predict  what  new  designs  will  be  hit  upon.  But 
retailers  have  so  much  confidence  in  the  principles  already 
proved  satisfactory  that  they  do  not  hesitate  to  make  the  nec- 
essarily heavy  investments  in  sheds  intended  to  last  a  lifetime. 
They  feel  fairly  sure  that  these  principles  are  practically  cor- 
rect and  that  reasonable  alterations  and  rearrangements  will 
keep  the  buildings  up  to  date  for  a  great  many  years. 

Altho  the  rapid  advancement  in  the  design  of  retail  yard 
equipment  during  the  last  twenty  or  thirty  years  has  been 


6  RETAIL  LUMBER  SHEDS 

due  largely  to  the  late  start  it  got  and  to  the  necessity  for 
catching  up  with  the  rest  of  the  business,  there  is  another 
reason  for  the  more  recent  innovations.  Business  policies 
have  been  changing;  and  this  has  made  new  and  previously 
unnecessary  equipment  desirable.  Progressive  retailers  in 
building  new  yards  or  in  remodeling  old  ones  are  interested 
not  only  in  storage  sheds  but  also  in  sales  equipment. 

The  old-time  policy  of  sitting  back  and  waiting  for  trade 
to  come  in  is  giving  way  to  a  reasonable  creative  salesman- 
ship. Retailers  know  that  in  one  sense  they  can  not  force  sales 
onto  their  customers;  but  they  also  know  that  by  judicious 
work  they  can  create  a  certain  amount  of  business  by  calling 
the  attention  of  their  customers  to  reasonable  and  desirable 
new  structures.  In  order  to  sow-  these  seeds  of  building 
desire  successfully  it  is  necessary  to  have  a  different  kind  of 
yard  equipment.  In  the  old  days  it  made  small  difference 
where  the  yard  was  located,  so  far  as  winning  trade  was  con- 
cerned. If  a  customer  had  to  have  lumber  he  would  go  to  a 
muddy  back  lot  on  the  edge  of  town  as  readily  as  to  any  other 
location.  The  appearance  of  the  place  made  small  differ- 
ence; in  fact  a  lumber  yard  was  supposed  to  look  dingy  and 
disordered.  It  was  nothing  more  than  a  storage  place  for  a 
kind  of  merchandise  that  was  expected  to  sell  itself. 

Since  competition  and  the  knowledge  that  taking  thought 
will  add  several  cubits  to  his  business  stature  have  shaken  him 
awake,  the  up-to-date  retailer  is  not  content  with  the  busi- 
ness that  drops  into  his  lap.  But  if  he  advertises  the  desir- 
ability of  good  buildings  and  people  come  around  to  see  him 
and  discover  a  mudhole,  a  sagging  shed,  stock  so  piled  that 
it  can't  be  displayed  and  nothing  in  or  near  the  office  to  help 


INTRODUCTION  7 

them  decide  on  house  plans  or  interior  finish  they  are  likely 
to  leave  in  disgust.  The  last  state  of  that  business  is  rather 
certain  to  be  worse  than  the  first. 

The  progressive  retailer  appeals  to  the  home-owning 
instinct  of  his  customers,  and  he  tries  especially  to  interest 
the  women.  If  possible  he  locates  his  yard  in  a  place  that 
is  easily  reached.  Sidewalks  are  highly  important.  First 
impressions  may  count  heavily  for  or  against  a  possible  sale, 
so  such  adornments  as  paint  and  flowers  are  a  part  of  his  sell- 
ing equipment.  He  has  a  pleasant  office  where  he  can  enter- 
tain his  customers  and  display  various  patterns  of  rriill 
work  and  finish  as  they  will  appear  when  in  place.  He  tries 
not  only  to  show  his  goods  to  the  best  advantage  but  also  to 
have  his  surroundings  suggestive  of  attractive  finishings  and 
furnishings. 

While  it  is  true  that  not  all  retailers  hold  advanced  views 
of  service  and  creative  salesmanship  no  retailer  is  wise  to 
ignore  these  things  when  he  rearranges  his  yard  or  builds 
new  equipment.  Ordinary  prudence  will  lead  him  to  design 
his  plant  in  such  a  way  that  he  can  add  a  service  department 
later  without  much  remodeling.  Otherwise  he  may  find 
himself  with  a  large  investment  in  more  or  less  useless  build- 
ings. This  book  attempts  to  deal  in  a  practical  way  both 
with  storage  sheds  and  with  sales  equipment. 


LOCATION 

Lumber  retailers  can  not  always  suit  themselves  when 
they  locate  their  yards.  Many  yards  are  already  located 
and  equipped  with  costly  sheds  and  warehouses,  and  the 
owners  do  not  feel  -that  they  can  afford  to  change  even  if  they 
think  other  places  would  suit  their  purposes  better.  Some- 
times a  retailer  is  not  able  to  buy  the  piece  of  land  he -wants, 
and  sometimes  he  is  barred  by  municipal  fire  limits  from 
using  it  for  a  yard.  However,  every  retailer  can  console 
himself  with  the  thought  that  his  location  has  some  advan- 
tage ;  and  it  is  not  wise  to  try  to  lay  down  hard  and  fast  rules. 

If  a  retailer  is  free  to  choose  his  location  there  are  a  fewr 
things  he  should  keep  in  mind,  tho  these  things  do  not  always 
have  the  same  relative  values.  In  the  first  place  the  yard 
should  be  high  and  dry.  If  the  loss  to  the  lumber  business 
thru  floods,  mold  and  rot,  caused  by  placing  yards  in  low 
and  undrained  places,  could  be  computed  the  total,  while 
probably  less  than  the  loss  caused  by  fires,  would  be  uncom- 
fortably high.  A  large  part  of  this  loss  is  wholly  without 
justification  and  represents  a  tax  on  the  business  caused  by 
sheer  heedlessness.  Sometimes  it  is  necessary  to  put  a  yard 
in  a  low  place;  but  in  that  case  the  owner  should  add  to  the 
sum  set  aside  for  buying  the  location  an  additional  sum  for 
grading  the  yard  so  that  water  never  can  enter  it.  It  may  be 
necessary  to  add  retaining  walls  or  dikes  as  extra  precautions. 
In  any  event  he  should  allow  for  this  extra  work,  and  he- 
should  see  that  it  is  done  before  the  yard  is  built.  Raising 

8 


LOCATION  9 

sheds  and  hauling  in  dirt  after  the  place  has  been  opened  for 
business  are  much  more  difficult  and  costly  than  doing  them 
in  the  first  place.  There  is  also  the  temptation  to  get  along 
without  doing  it  at  all  if  it  is  not  done  at  the  beginning,  in 
which  case  within  a  brief  period  enough  stock  will  have  been 
lost  to  pay  the  bill;  and  then  altho  the  loss  has  been  suffered 
the  yard  will  still  be  in  its  old,  sunken  condition,  making 
certain  that  still  other  losses  will  follow. 

In  locating  the  yard  attention  must  be  paid  to  shipping 
facilities.  A  fewr  years  ago  nearly  every  retailer  would  have 
named  this  as  the  most  important  consideration  in  finding  a 
yard  site.  It  is  still  highly  important.  Competition  has 
made  the  margin  of  profit  narrow  enough,  and  if  it  must  be 
narrowed  further  by  an  unnecessarily  high  charge  for  getting 
stock  from  the  car  to  the  warehouse  the  retailer  will  be  handi- 
capped by  that  much  in  his  fight  for  business.  A  private 
siding  is  a  valuable  thing,  especially  if  it  can  be  located  so 
that  cement,  sand  and  other  heavy  stock  can  be  unloaded 
from  the  car  directly  to  the  storage  place.  Sometimes  sidings 
can  be  arranged  so  that  lumber  is  unloaded  directly  from  the 
car  into  the  bin,  but  it  does  not  often  happen  that  all  stock 
can  be  handled  in  this  way.  In  some  yards  use  is  made  of 
unloading  docks  and  hand  trucks;  but  in  a  majority  of  cases 
motor  trucks  or  horses  must  be  employed  for  getting  the  stock 
to  its  storage  place.  Once  the  lumber  is  loaded  a  slightly 
longer  haul  does  not  add  heavily  to  the  handling  cost,  so  a 
yard  at  a  short  distance  from  the  railroad  yards  may  be  able 
to  handle  its  incoming  shipments  in  a  fairly  economical 
manner. 

This  extra  hauling  charge,  no  matter  how  small  it  is, 


Office  and  Shed 


Front  of  Shed,  Lamont  Lumber  Co.,  Lament,  Iowa 


LOCATION  11 

ought  to  be  saved  unless  there  are  compensating  advantages 
to  be  gotten  from  a  location  nearer  the  center  of  town.  A 
lumber  yard  is  now  more  than  a  storage  place  for  lumber.  It 
is  a  selling  point  and  must  be  arranged  to  suit  the  convenience 
of  the  customers  and  also  to  assist  in  creating  building  desire 
and  in  helping  make  sales.  A  location  on  a  main-traveled 
street  is  more  and  more  desired.  Merchants  handling  other 
lines  have  long  been  convinced  of  the  value  of  the  show  win- 
dow in  promoting  sales,  and  lumbermen  are  being  converted 
to  its  use.  But  a  show  window  is  of  no  value  unless  people 
pass  along  in  front  of  it.  Advertising  is  proving  a  great  busi- 
ness stimulator;  but,  aside  from  implanting  a  desire  to  build, 
the  lumberman's  advertising  is  of  greatest  value  in  inducing 
possible  customers  to  visit  his  yard.  These  people  usually 
have  no  settled  determination  to  buy  some  certain  thing. 
They  are  merely  willing  to  be  convinced  of  the  wisdom  of 
putting  up  a  house.  They  will  be  sensitive  to  irrtpressions. 
If  they  have  to  go  to  an  out-of-the-way,  dirty  corner  of  town, 
wade  across  muddy  streets  and  hunt  around  for  the  office 
they  will  not  be  in  a  mood  to  be  pleased  or  persuaded  when 
they  do  find  it. 

The  matter  of  first  cost  of  a  lot  on  which  to  put  the  yard 
is  naturally  of  considerable  importance.  Some  lumbermen 
who  were  fortunate  years  ago  when  land  was  cheap  in  pick- 
ing out  a  lot  near  the  present  center  of  town  are  inclined  to 
count  the  rise  in  value  of  the  land  as  part  of  the  yard  profits. 
Perhaps  it  may  be  unimportant  what  this  profit  is  called; 
but  adding  it  to  the  yard  profits  may  lead  to  bad  merchandis- 
ing. Retailers  who  are  barely  holding  their  own  as  lumber- 
men feel  that  they  are  getting  on  satisfactorily  because  of  the 


12  RETAIL  LUMBER  SHEDS 

fact  that  the  real  estate  increase  shows  a  yearly  advance  suf- 
ficient to  give  them  a  normal  profit.  In  figuring  business 
costs  a  retailer  should  include  a  fair  rental  on  the  ground, 
based  upon  actual  value,  tho  this  rental  must  be  made  to 
care  for  taxes  and  the  like.  It  is  not  proposed  at  this  point 
to  say  more  about  the  details  of  a  cost-finding  system.  But 
if  this  increase  in  value  is  included  in  business  profits  the 
owner  is  likely  to  have  a  sense  of  false  security.  Such  an 
advance  ought  to  be  considered  as  profits  from  an  indepen- 
dent real  estate  deal.  Unless  the  lumber  business  stands  on 
its  own  foundation  the  owner  will  not  know  whether  he  is 
making  a  success  or  not,  and  a  slump  in  values  may  sweep 
away  his  capital.  A  lumber  business  in  an  unhealthy  condi- 
tion is  capable  of  causing  sudden  and  serious  losses  on  its  own 
account,  and  the  owner  ought  to  have  an  exact  notion  of  its 
real  status. 

As  was  said  before  it  is  impossible  to  set  a  relative  valua- 
tion on  the  different  elements  that  go  to  make  up  a  good  loca- 
tion. Probably  a  majority  of  practical  retailers  would  vote 
for  shipping  facilities.  But  a  steadily  increasing  number 
are  placing  a  greater  value  on  locations  that  will  help  them 
in  the  actual  selling  of  their  goods.  Whether  a  yard  is  placed 
near  to  or  away  from  the  railroad  the  same  care  should  be 
exercised  to  see  that  the  stock  is  kept  dry.  A  swampy  place 
is  to  be  avoided  as  a  pestilence,  and  low  ground  where  there 
is  danger  from  floods  or  from  standing  water  should  be  filled 
up  and  otherwise  protected. 


MATERIALS  OF  CONSTRUCTION 

Retail  lumbermen  are  not  always  free  to  follow  their  own 
wishes  in  regard  to  the  choice  of  materials  from  which  to 
build  their  sheds.  Local  building  codes  and  fire  limits  may 
interfere,  and  in  that  case  there  is  nothing  to  be  done  except 
to  follow  the  directions  and  provisions  of  the  code.  But  a 
lumber  shed  is  something  more  than  a  building  in  which  to 
store  lumber;  it  is  considered  by  the  community  as  an  indi- 
cator of  the  owner's  faith  in  the  material  he  sells.  So  it  is 
the  part  of  advertising  wisdom  to  build  of  lumber  wherever 
this  is  possible.  There  is  some  controversy  over  the  advis- 
ability of  stucco  finish.  The  presumption  is  against  it.  But 
sometimes  the  fire  ordinances  allow  stucco  covered  buildings 
to  be  erected  in  restricted  districts;  and  of  course  it  is  better 
to  build  a  frame  building  with  a  stucco  finish  than  not  to  use 
lumber  at  all.  Some  retailers  handle  stucco  as  part  of  their 
regular  merchandise;  and  no  doubt  they  would  find  a  stucco 
finish  on  some  or  all  the  yard  buildings  a  good  advertisement. 

It  is  hard  to  understand  why  lumbermen  who  are  not 
compelled  to  do  so  will  build  their  sheds  and  warehouses  of 
substitutes.  A  well-built  and  well-cared-for  wooden  shed 
is  more  easily  kept  dry  and  in  proportion  to  first  cost  will 
last  longer  than  one  built  of  substitutes.  It  is  fine  in  appear- 
ance and  easily  ventilated.  But  it  is  still  harder  to  understand 
why  any  lumberman  in  these  days  will  yield  to  the  temptation 
of  the  "brick  front."  Years  ago  when  sheds  were  still  a  nov- 
elty some  lumbermen,  fired  with  the  ambition  to  make  their 

13 


MATERIALS  OF  CONSTRUCTION  15 

sheds  look  like  city  blocks,  built  these  buildings  of  wood  with 
the  exception  of  a  brick  front  across  the  end  next  the  street. 
No  reasonable  purpose  could  be  served  by  this  combination. 
No  one  is  deceived  into  thinking  the  entire  building  is  made 
of  brick,  nor  is  it  desirable  to  have  them  think  so.  No  reason 
is  apparent  except  the  damaging  one  that  the  retailer  has  not 
faith  enough  in  his  own  merchandise  to  use  it  himself.  It 
ought  to  be  apparent  that  if  a  man  is  unwilling  to  use  in  his 
own  building  the  lumber  he  himself  has  for  sale  he  has 
thrown  away  his  best  argument  against  substitutes. 

The  substitute  men  have  made  two  attacks  on  lumber  as 
a  building  material ;  the  first  that  a  wooden  building  is  neces- 
sarily a  fire  trap,  and  the  second  that  lumber  is  not  a  lasting 
material.  There  are  places  where  the  fire  hazard  is  peculiar 
and  where  lumber  is  not  to  be  recommended  as  a  building 
material.  Wood  will  burn,  of  course;  but  in  the  ordinary 
case  with  reasonable  precautions  taken  in  such  matters  as 
construction,  fire  exposure  and  installation  of  heating  and 
lighting  apparatus  a  wooden  building  is  as  safe  as,  if  not 
safer,  than  one  built  of  any  other  material.  This  fact  is  well 
known ;  so  the  attack  on  lumber  as  an  unjustifiably  great  fire 
risk  is  losing  force.  The  other  attack,  that  against  the  lasting 
quality  of  lumber,  is  being  neutralized  by  two  things ;  calling 
attention  to  the  fact  that  many  wooden  buildings  are  in  sound 
condition  after  a  century  or  more  of  use,  and  the  increasing 
use  of  wood  preservatives. 

Some  retailers  have  the  mistaken  notion  that  the  sooner 
lumber  rots  the  sooner  they  can  make  another  sale.  If  wood 
were  the  only  possible  building  material  obtainable  this 
mean-spirited,  public-be-damned  idea  might  have  some  prac- 


John  Alden  House,  Duxbury,  Mass.     Built  in  1653 


Fairbanks   Home,   Dedham,    Mass.      Built   in    1636 


MATERIALS  OF  CONSTRUCTION  17 

tical  force.  But  if  a  porch  floor  rots  out  quickly  the  owner 
is  quite  apt  to  replace  it  with  cement  and  then  in  the  future 
to  use  cement  for  a  good  many  purposes  that  would  be  bet- 
ter served  by  wood.  The  lumberman's  interest  would  be 
much  better  served  by  his  helping  the  customer  to  select  the 
right  lumber  for  his  porch  floor  and  by  instructing  him  how 
to  fill  the  cracks  with  white  lead.  A  satisfied  customer  will 
mean  a  good  many  more  sales  than  will  a  rotted  floor.  And 
no  matter  what  a  retailer  may  think  about  his  customer's 
buildings  he  will  not  want  his  own  to  be  destroyed  by  decay. 

Wood  decay  is  caused  by  various  fungous  growths  that 
feed  upon  the  wood  and  that  are  fostered  by  dampness;  so 
the  preservation  of  wood  can  be  accomplished  by  keeping  it 
dry  and  by  treating  it  with  a  suitable  toxic  agent  that  will 
prevent  the  growth  of  fungi.  The  Barrett  Co.,  of  CKicago, 
a  concern  that  has  devoted  much  time  and  experimentation 
to  the  perfection  of  preservatives  and  to  working  out  right 
methods  of  application,  recommends  the  use  of  creosote  oil 
not  only  as  a  preservative  for  the  timbers  used  in  construc- 
tion but  also  as  a  paint  for  the  entire  building.  The  color  is 
the  chief  objection,  but  the  oil  is  serviceable  when  used  for 
this  purpose  and  is  said  to  be  much  less  expensive  than  paint. 
If  it  is  desired  to  paint  over  a  surface  treated  with  creosote 
oil  this  surface  must  be  covered  with  shellac  or  the  paint  will 
not  stick. 

Two  methods  are  suggested.  The  brush  method  consists 
of  applying  creosote  oil  in  the  same  manner  as  paint  to  points 
of  contact  or  to  timbers  especially  exposed  to  decay.  Two 
coats  are  usually  applied.  The  open  tank  method  consists 
of  complete  immersion.  In  either  case  the  directions  that 


18  RETAIL  LUMBER  SHEDS 

come  with  the  oil  should  be  followed  exactly.  It  is  not  nec- 
essary that  all  the  timbers  used  in  framing  a  lumber  shed 
should  be  treated.  But  all  timbers  that  come  in  contact  with 
masonry  or  the  ground,  all  mortises  or  similar  points  of  con- 
tact and  all  timbers  exposed  to  dampness  will  last  much 
longer  if  treated  with  a  suitable  preservative.  In  addition  to 
sills,  joists,  stringers,  columns,  girders,  beams  and  roofing 
material  that  are  to  be  used  in  the  building  itself  it  is  advis- 
able to  treat  posts,  fencing  lumber,  timber,  framing  of  scales 
and  other  wooden  structural  material  used  about  the  yard. 
It  is  a  common  practice  to  place  a  wooden  lining  on  the  top 
of  cement  bearings  so  that  the  stock  will  not  rest  directly 
on  masonry.  If  this  wooden  lining  is  treated  it  will  prevent 
the  infection  of  piles  with  dry  rot  from  below. 

Kurt  C.  Earth,  of  the  Barrett  Co.,  suggests  three  precau- 
tions in  treating  wood.  The  first  is  to  have  the  wood  thoroly 
air  dried;  the  second  is  to  have  it  completely  framed  before 
being  treated ;  the  third  is  to  use  a  standard  grade  of  oil  suited 
to  that  particular  kind  of  work  and  to  follow  the  manufac- 
turer's directions  exactly.  There  is  a  good  reason  for  each 
of  these  precautions ;  but  the  reason  for  the  second  may  not 
be  immediately  apparent.  The  preservative  forms  a  film  on 
the  outside  of  the  stick  that  is  poisonous  to  fungous  growths 
and  so  prevents  their  attacking  the  wood.  But  if  this  film 
is  broken  at  any  point  the  fungus  may  get  a  start  there. 
Hence  it  is  important  that  the  timbers  be  framed  before  being 
subjected  to  treatment  to  insure  that  there  will  be  no  breaks 
in  the  film.  Timbers  that  are  subject  to  abrasion  of  any  kind 
should  be  treated  by  the  open  tank  method  in  order  to  make 
the  preservative  penetrate  more  deeply. 


MATERIALS  OF  CONSTRUCTION  19 

Another  construction  matter  may  be  mentioned  here; 
namely,  yard  paving.  Many  new  sheds  that  represent  heavy 
investment  are  not  equipped  with  paved  alleys,  tho  the  only 
objection  urged  against  paving  is  the  necessarily  heavy  cosr. 
A  number  of  things  may  be  cited  in  its  favor.  In  nearly  all 
parts  of  the  United  States  and  especially  in  the  middle  West 
one  of  the  enemies  of  stored  lumber  is  dust.  A  number  of 
things  have  been  tried  to  lessen  this  evil,  and  while  some  have 
been  partly  successful  none  has  as  yet  become  universally 
accepted  as  a  suitable  remedy.  Paving,  of  course,  reduces 
this  dust  evil  to  a  minimum.  An  unpaved  alley  is  apt  to 
become  uneven  and  to  develop  mudholes  during  spring 
thaws.  A  mudhole  in  the  alley,  besides  being  an  eyesore  and 
an  irritation,  creates  dampness  that  is  bad  for  the  men  as  well 
as  for  the  lumber.  If  a  paved  alley  is  reasonably  level  a  yard 
man  can  easily  pull  a  loaded  wagon  down  to  the  next  bin. 
Each  retailer  must  decide  for  himself  whether  or  not  these 
advantages  are  worth  the  cost  of  paving. 

James  Costello,  of  Liberty,  Mo.,  has  a  very  completely 
paved  yard.  It  is  paved  outside  as  well  as  inside  the  build- 
ings. In  a  letter  to  the  AMERICAN  LUMBERMAN  he  made 
this  statement:  "Considering  the  first  cost  and  service  of  the 
extensive  paving  I  have  I  will  say  that  for  a  yard  doing  $50,- 
ooo  or  more  business  yearly,  and  permanently  located,  I 
consider  the  paving  a  good  investment." 

The  kind  of  paving  to  be  used  is  also  a  local  problem. 
Wood  blocks  are  admirable;  and  if  the  lumberman  can  have 
his  alleys  paved  at  a  time  when  the  city  is  having  wood  block 
paving  laid  he  should  be  able  to  get  his  work  done  at  a  rea- 
sonable rate. 


SALES  EQUIPMENT 

There  is  no  part  of  the  yard  equipment  to  which  the 
average  retailer  needs  to  pay  more  attention  than  to  his  office 
and  other  selling  equipment.  This  is  not  because  these  things 
are  all  important  but  rather  because  until  recently  by  a  kind 
of  common  consent  they  have  been  ignored.  The  lumber 
business,  like  some  other  lines  of  retailing,  has  been  chang- 
ing in  character.  Instead  of  being  a  mere  storage  place  for 
lumber  the  modern  yard  has  become  an  active  agent  for  the 
promotion  of  the  right  kind  of  building.  Instead  of  being 
merely  a  means  for  supplying  demand  it  has  added  the  func- 
tion of  creating  and  directing  demand. 

Not  so  many  years  ago  the  advertising  of  lumber  in  local 
papers  was  considered  a  waste  of  money.  For,  it  was  argued, 
if  people  wrant  lumber  they  will  go  to  a  lumber  yard.  If 
they  do  not  want  it  no  amount  of  advertising  will  induce 
them  to  buy  it.  Later  when  advertising  was  beginning  to 
prove  itself  a  valuable  aid  in  getting  business  it  was  consid- 
ered merely  an  agency  of  competition,  in  getting  trade  away 
from  a  rival  yard.  The  possibilities  of  the  creative  functions 
of  advertising  were  slow  to  be  recognized. 

In  other  lines  of  retailing  it  is  a  well-established  fact  that 
by  a  process  of  education  the  public  can  be  brought  to  recog- 
nize as  desirable  certain  things  for  which  they  previously 
had  no  liking.  This  trait  of  human  nature  is  very  deeply 
seated.  It  accounts  for  such  things  as  fashions  in  dress,  in 
amusements,  in  education  and  a  vast  number  of  other  things. 

20 


.     SALES  EQUIPMENT  21 

It  may  be  utilized  in  architecture  and  the  promotion  of 
home  building.  One  person  in  a  neighborhood  builds  a  new 
house.  After  that  has  happened  his  neighbors  do  not  need 
new  houses  any  worse  than  they  needed  them  before.  But 
this  event  serves  to  call  their  attention  to  the  subject  of  build- 


A   Bungalow    Office 

ing.  Every  lumberman  of  much  experience  has  observed 
epidemics  of  building  that  have  been  started  by  just  such 
events  as  this. 

But  it  is  not  necessary  to  wait  for  someone  to  build  a  house 
in  order  to  have  attention  directed  to  the  desirability  of 
building.  This  whole  subject  may  for  convenience  be  called 
creative  salesmanship.  It  involves  a  good  many  things  such 
as  newspaper  advertising,  classified  lists  of  prospects,  the 
installing  of  a  plan  service  department  and  the  like.  It  must 
be  based  on  a  full  knowledge  of  the  community.  In  fact 
it  must  permeate  the  whole  establishment  and  the  whole  busi- 
ness policy.  It  must  be  reflected  in  the  equipment  of  the 
yard. 


SALES  EQUIPMENT  23 

The  yard  owner  will,  of  course,  fit  his  sales  equipment 
to  the  amount  of  money  he  feels  able  to  spend  and  to  his 
conception  of  the  needs  and  possibilities  of  his  community. 
While  it  is  true  that  installing  the  best  of  sales  equipment 
will  involve  the  investment  of  some  money  it  is  not  always 
true  that  the  largest  investment  brings  the  best  results.  This 
is  a  matter  of  careful  planning.  A  small  investment  in  an 
office  may  still  be  made  to  yield  large  returns  in  creative 
salesmanship  if  it  is  made  with  intelligence  and  good  taste. 
So  an  equipment  that  would  answer  splendidly  for  one  yard 
might  not  suit  another  at  all.  Keeping  this  fact  in  mind  it  is 
possible  to  name  over  some  of  the  features  of  sales  equip- 
ment. In  some  offices  several  of  these  features  may  be  com- 
bined in  a  single  room.  They  may  include  the  office  proper, 
the  service  department,  customers'  room,  show  room  for 
millwork,  show  window  and  the  general  appearance  of  the 
whole  yard. 

The  office  proper  has  several  functions.  In  the  first  place 
it  must  provide  for  the  transaction  of  business  and  for  the 
keeping  of  records  of  sales  and  stocks  and  of  prospective 
trade.  This  must  not  be  lost  sight  of  in  enthusiasm  over  mak- 
ing the  place  an  aid  in  selling  lumber.  The  plans  should 
provide  for  good  light  for  the  bookkeeper  and  order  clerk 
and  for  convenience  in  getting  out  into  the  yard.  It  ought 
to  be  roomy  enough  so  that  there  is  no  feeling  of  cramped 
quarters,  and  there  should  be  plenty  of  space  for  the  filing 
of  papers.  Nearly  every  lumber  office  needs  a  fireproof 
vault  for  this  purpose.  A  safe  does  well  enough  for  some 
things,  but  there  are  old  records  and  sales  tickets  of  no  great 
value  but  that  may  serve  to  settle  disputes  sometime;  and 


Suggested  Sales  Rooms,  No.  1 


Suggested  Sales   Rooms,  No.  2 


SALES  EQUIPMENT 


25 


Suggested  Sales  Rooms,   No.  3 

these  soon  bulk  up  too  much  to  allow  of  their  being  put  into 
a  safe. 

After  the  purely  business  transactions  have  been  pro- 
vided for  there  should  be  considerable  attention  paid  to 
appearance.  The  office  and  customers'  room  can  be  made 


SALES  EQUIPMENT 


27 


very  effective  displays  of  woodwork.  FeW  persons  outside 
the  trade  know  what  the  various  finishing  woods  look  like, 
and  it  is  impossible  to  sell  unknown  things  to  them  on  the 


Suggested   Sales  Rooms,  No.  4 

strength  of  a  verbal  description.  Small  samples  give  a  per- 
son but  a  faulty  idea  of  the  appearance  of  a  whole  room.  So 
it  is  well  to  pick  out  a  few  kinds  that  promise  to  be  leaders, 
not  forgetting  the  cheaper  woods,  and  to  use  them  in  various 
parts  of  the  office.  Each  room  should  be  finished  in  a  single 


SALES  EQUIPMENT t  29 

kind  of  wood,  for  a  customer  instinctively  judges  the  desir- 
ability of  a  finishing  wood  by  the  general  attractiveness  of 
the  room  in  which  it  is  seen ;  and  no  room  is  very  attractive 
if  patched  together  with  inharmonious  finishes.  The  doors 
need  not  all  be  the  same  size  or  pattern.  It  is  possible  to  use 
doors  of  different  styles  of  paneling  without  destroying  the 
effect  of  unity. 

These  rooms  should  be  carefully  planned  with  the  fur- 
nishings and  decorations  in  mind  so  that  they  may  be  har- 
monious and  restful  as  well  as  attractive.  By  showing  what 
he  has  done  with  his  own  office  a  retailer  places  his  own 
measure  upon  his  skill  as  a  building  adviser.  Needless  to 
add,  the  rooms  should  be  kept  in  order.  No  matter  how 
costly  and  well  planned  a  room  may  be  it  will  be  unattractive 
if  there  are  a  litter  of  papers  over  the  furniture  and  floor,  a 
thick  coating  of  dust  on  the  table,  half  burned  wood  and  coal 
ashes  in  the  fireplace,  cigar  ashes  strewn  about  and  a  glare  of 
light  from  a  window  with  the  shade  run  clear  to  the  top. 
Rooms  that  are  well  planned,  well  finished  and  well  fur- 
nished, that  are  in  order  and  that  have  the  light  regulated 
by  properly  adjusted  shades  and  curtains  will  give  the  cus- 
tomer a  restful,  satisfied  feeling  that  is  highly  important  in 
doing  business  with  him.  All  these  things  may  be  said 
equally  of  all  the  rooms  included  in  the  sales  equipment. 

The  service  department  and  the  customers'  room  are 
often  combined.  The  customers'  room  is  a  place  where  are 
collected  the  plan  books  and  similar  helps  for  coming  to  a 
decision  about  the  size  and  style  of  the  house  to  be  built. 
These  helps  should  be  arranged  in  such  a  manner  that  they 
may  be  looked  at  in  comfort.  On  the  walls  may  be  taste- 


Suggested  Sales  Rooms,  No.  5 


5TREET 


5CALES 


PRIVATE     OFFICE 


DESK 


NKHUMPffS 


LOBBY 


LAVATORY 


VAULT 


Office   of    Moderate    Size 


SALES  EQUIPMENT     .  31 

fully  framed  photographs  of  houses  sold  by  the  company. 
This  room  should  be  secluded  somewhat  so  that  customers 
may  be  alone  and  undisturbed  while  looking  at  plans  and 
making  up  their  minds.  The  room  may  be  used  as  a  con- 
tractors' room  where  contractors  may  take  their  clients  for 
conference.  On  this  point  R.  L.  Sieg,  of  the  Curtis  Com- 
panies, Clinton,  Iowa,  makes  this  statement: 

"A  lumber  yard  should  have  what  might  be  termed  a 
customers'  room.  This  room  need  not  be  very  large,  but  it 
should  contain  a  fair  sized  desk  with  a  file  of  stock  plans  or 
other  information  for  building.  In  addition  to  this  there 
might  be  a  wall  case  for  such  items  of  material  that  occupy 
only  a  small  space,  such  as  roofing  samples,  samples  of  wood 
finishes,  catalogs  of  woodwork  and  plan  books.  Almost  all 
yards  have  their  friendly  contractors,  and  for  this  reason 
this  will  serve  for  a  contractor's  room  when  he  is  engaged 
in  making  his  estimate  on  a  certain  piece  of  work;  and  this 
makes  it  possible  for  the  contractor  to  have  a  ready  refer- 
ence of  all  materials  that  go  to  make  up  his  figures." 

Mr.  Sieg  says  further: 

"Off  of  this  customers'  or  contractors'  room  there  should 
be  a  display  room.  It  would  be  rather  a  hard  problem  to  say 
exactly  what  size  this  room  would  need  to  be  to  accommodate 
the  amount  of  woodwork  that  any  dealer  would  want  to  dis- 
play. This  room,  however,  need  be  only  of  fair  size,  and  our 
recommendations  in  this  line  would  be  to  provide  the  follow- 
ing: A  standard  design  of  bookcase  colonnade,  a  few  stair 
newels,  two  or  three  styles  of  stair  balusters  and  rails,  several 
styles  of  casing,  base  and  cap  trim,  possibly  a  nice  sideboard, 
but  by  all  means  a  door  rack  which  should  contain  a  display 


Model  of  a  Doorway 


•OC 

a 
c/: 


Suggestion   for  a    Customers'    Room 


Office  of  the  President,  Pacific  Lumber  Co. 


SALES  EQUIPMENT  35 

of  five  or  six  designs  of  standard  stock  doors  in  the  three 
woods,  oak,  birch  and  yellow  pine." 

The  Morgan  Co.,  of  Oshkosh,  Wis.,  has  been  active  for 
years  in  promoting  the  use  of  fine  doors  and  interior  finish. 
On  being  asked  its  opinion  of  the  display  room  as  a  part  of  the 
equipment  of  a  retail  yard  the  company  forwarded  a  pam- 
phlet containing  an  address  prepared  by  David  E.  Breinig, 
president  of  the  Bridgeport  Wood  Finishing  Co.  In  this  ad- 
dress are  quoted  a  number  of  letters  from  lumber  dealers  who 
have  had  experience  with  these  rooms.  Below  are  given  some 
of  these  quotations.  The  first  is  from  a  letter  written  by  John 
J.  Demarest,  of  Closter,  N.  J.: 

"The  samples  of  wood  with  the  different  finishes  have 
helped  a  great  deal,  by  enabling  us  to  show  people  just  what 
results  they  will  obtain  by  using-the  different  materials." 

This  is  from  an  Ohio  dealer: 

"This  room  indeed  has  been  a  great  help  to  us.  It  is 
the  best  advertising  medium  we. have  ever  experienced.  It 
is  a  very  beautiful  room,  and  we  have  had  in  it  everything 
showing  the  different  styles  of  woods  and  how  they  are  fin- 
ished, so  that  our  customers  may  see  exactly  how  the  rooms 
in  their  homes  will  look  after  being  properly  finished.  We 
have  experienced  a  great  increase  of  trade  by  its  use." 

This  comes  from  New  Jersey : 

"This  room  has  enabled  us  to  take  an  architect,  builder, 
painter  or  manufacturer  out  of  our  busy  retail  department; 
and  in  the  quiet  of  our  display  room  we  are  in  a  position  to 
tell  them  our  story  in  a  manner  which  leaves  a  definite  im- 
pression on  their  minds.  Basing  our  calculations  on  our 
experience  we  can  not  too  strongly  urge  on  the  earnest  dealer 


Display  Room,  Spahn  &  Rose  Lumber  Co.,  Dubuque,  Iowa 


SALES  EQUIPMENT  37 

who  is  endeavoring  to  build  up  a  quality  business  the  neces- 
sity of  working  out  his  problems  along  similar  lines." 

This  one  comes  from  Utica,  N.  Y. : 

"We  find  that  it  is  being  used  more  and  more  by  archi- 
tects, building  contractors  and  painters,  and  by  people  who 
are  erecting  their  own  homes,  and  who  want  to  get  ideas  on 
how  to  finish  them.  It  is  fast  becoming  what  might  be  called 
a  wood-finishing  library.  We  believe  that  it  is  a  splendid 
plan,  and  we  have  not  as  yet  realized  the  benefit  it  is  going 
to  be  to  us  here  in  Utica." 

These  quotations  show  the  importance  that  certain  retail- 
ers attach  to  these  show  rooms. 

The  show  window  is  another  recent  addition  to  retailing 
equipment,  and  it  is  one  that  is  somewhat  difficult  to  utilize. 
It  lacks  much  of  being  self-operating.  A  show  window  dis- 
play must  be  changed  rather  frequently,  must  be  attractive 
in  itself  to  the  casual  passer-by  as  well  as  to  the  person  search- 
ing for  building  hints,  and  it  must,  promote  the  sale  o'f 
building  materials,  in  part  at  least,  by  suggesting  or  portray- 
ing the  finished  article.  All  of  these  things  are  more  difficult 
to  accomplish  with  lumber  .than  with  many  other  lines  of 
merchandise.  But  many  retailers  are  making  good  use  of 
show  windows.  Some  whose  sheds  are  on  side  streets  are 
said  to  have  gotten  gratifying  results  by  renting  show  win- 
dows in  the  shopping  district.  The  show  window  and  the 
display  room  together  have  made  it  possible  and  desirable 
in  some  instances  to  locate  the  office  and  display  rooms  in  the 
retail  district  while  the  sheds  remain  out  on  the  outskirts  of 
town. 

The  general  appearance  of  the  yard  is  of  much  impor- 


Two  Views  of  the  Sales  Room  oi  Smyth  Lumber  Co.,  Beaumont,  Texas 


MS   »J 


Office,    Smyth    Lumber    Co.,    Beaumont,    Texas 


Office,  Rand  Lumber  Co.,  Burlington,  Iowa 


A   Finely   Paneled    Office 


SALES  EQUIPMENT  41 

tance  in  this  connection.  Much  might  be  written  of  the 
value  of  paint,  grass  and  flowers.  B.ut  each  yard  is  a  prob- 
lem to  itself  in  these  matters,  so  little  more  can  be  said  than 
that  the  wise  dealer  gives  much  attention  to  these  things. 
It  takes  no  great  amount  of  work  to  keep  the  parkings  clipped 
and  the  window  boxes  cared  for.  Lumber  yards  in  the  past 
have  had  the  reputation  for  being  dirty,  ill-looking  places. 
They  can  be  beauty  spots  if  a  little  thought  and  care  is  ex- 
pended on  them,  and  this  care  will  eventually  count  in 
increased  sales. 

The  suggested  sales  rooms  shown  in  this  chapter  were 
designed  by  the  service  department  of  the  Curtis  Companies, 
Clinton,  Iowa. 


SHED  ARRANGEMENT 

-  g'irfj  ^n 

Very  little  can  be  said  in  a  general  way  about  the  arrange- 
ment of  lumber  sheds.  Each  yard  is  an  individual  problem. 
The  size  of  the  lot  and  the  shape,  the  kind  and  amount  of 
stock  carried  and  the  class  of  customers  served  must  be  taken 
into  account.  It  is  well  to  arrange  the  yard  in  such  a  way 
that  a  wagon  taking  on  miscellaneous  items  can  make  a  cir- 
cuit of  the  yard  without  doubling  on  its  track.  Since  the 
long,  heavy  timbers  go  on  first  and  the  shingles  and  millwork 
last  it  will  be  well  to  arrange  the  framing  lumber  in  order 
according  to  size  and  the  different  sizes  according  to  length. 
Then  if  the  circuit  can  be  brought  back  near  the  office  where 
the  millwork  is  stored  the  arrangement  will  prove  satisfac- 
tory in  a  majority  of  cases. 

If  ground  is  limited  it  will  be  necessary  to  sacrifice  some 
of  the  roominess  that  gives  the  yard  its  well-ordered  appear- 
ance and  that  makes  it  look  like  a  good  place  in  which  to 
work  and  in  which  to  buy  house  bills.  In  general  it  will  be 
better  to  go  rather  high  in  the  air  with  the  piles  than  to 
cramp  the  alleys.  A  narrow  alley  makes  a  fire  trap,  and  it 
is  wasteful  of  labor. 

So  far  as  possible  the  office  should  be  kept  free  of  the 
appearance  of  being  a  storage  spot.  The  office  in  these  days 
is  part  of  the  sales  equipment  and  should  not  be  cluttered  up 
with  odd  doors  and  bales  of  cement  sacks.  Its  normal  ap- 
pearance should  be  dress  parade.  The^sales  rooms  must  be 
connected  with  the  office,  and  the  office  ought  to  be  located 

43 


SHED  ARRANGEMENT  45 

so  as  to  be  in  direct  connection  with  all  parts  of  the  yard. 
Very  often  this  is  not  possible;  but  if  the  sheds  can  be  ar- 
ranged so  that  there  is  a  direct  path  from  the  office  to  all 
parts  of  the  yard  the  men  will  save  time  and  the  manager 
will  be  able  to  keep  closely  in  touch  with  all  that  is  going  on. 
If  part  of  the  yard  is  to  be  left  free  of  sheds  this  part 
should,  generally  speaking,  be  the  center.  If  the  sheds  can 
be  arranged  around  a  court,  as  it  were,  they  will  afford  pro- 
tection to  the  open  yard  in  winter  and  at  all  times  against 
persons  who  have  no  business  on  the  premises.  This  clashes 
with  the  principle  that  sheds  should  be  located  far  enough 
inside  the  lot  to  overcome  the  danger  of  catching  fire  from 
neighboring  buildings;  and  in  deciding  where  to  put  the 
buildings  the  owner  must  weigh  the  desirability  of  each  of 
these  principles  and  also  the  influence  that  the  size  of  the  lot 
itself  will  have.  Not  many  lots  are  large  enough  to  be  iso- 
lated by  a  broad  vacant  space  around  the  outside.  Garages, 
paint  and  varnish  houses  and  planing  mills  should  be  isolated 
if  this  is  at  all  possible.  Stables,  if  located  on  the  lot,  are 
better  placed  at  a  distance  from  the  office.  If  the  yard  has  a 
railroad  siding  the  cement  and  plaster  houses  and  the  sand 
piles  should  be  along  this  siding.  This  is  the  heaviest  stock 
and  should  be  handled  with  the  least  possible  labor.  But  as 
was  said  before  each  yard  is  an  individual  problem,  and  no 
hard  and  fast  rules  can  be  laid  down. 


FOUNDATIONS  AND  BEARINGS 

Lumber  shed  foundations  are  receiving  more  attention 
than  formerly.  When  the  idea  of  shedding  lumber  was  new 
there  seemed  to  be  a  general  belief  that  such  structures 
needed  to  be  little  more  than  makeshifts  to  take  the  place  of 
the  old  covering  boards  laid  on  top  of  the  piles,  and  that 
little  planning  or  care  in  building  was  necessary.  As  a  result 
the  buildings  settled,  swayed  sideways  and  eventually  fell 
down.  When  lumbermen  awoke  to  the  fact  that  a  lumber 
shed  must  carry  an  enormous  load  and  so  must  be  built  for 
permanence  and  strength  they  began  applying  to  it  the  prin- 
ciples that  had  been  worked  out  for  other  buildings.  Few 
of  the  newer  sheds  have  developed  any  foundation  troubles. 

Foundation  materials  include  brick,  stone,  cement,  hol- 
low blocks,  wooden  blocks  and  the  like.  Cement  is  probably 
more  commonly  used  in  these  days  than  is  any  other  material. 
Nearly  every  lumber  yard  carries  it  in  stock  and  so  is  in  a 
position  to  supply  itself  at  wholesale  rates.  If  concrete  is 
mixed  correctly  it  makes  a  satisfactory  and  lasting  founda- 
tion. It  can  be  laid  rapidly;  and  if  it  is  necessary  for  the 
owner  and  his  men  to  do  the  work  they  can  hope  for  better 
success  with  concrete  than  with  brick  or  stone.  Brick  foun- 
dations do  fairly  well  when  laid  in  solid  walls  and  protected 
by  sills,  but  when  built  into  piers  they  leave  much  to  be 
desired.  Soft,  molded  brick  will  crumble  if  exposed  to 
abrasions  by  wagon  wheels,  and  sometimes  it  falls  to  pieces 
when  exposed  to  moisture,  freezing  and  thawing.  Pressed 

46 


FOUNDATIONS  AND  BEARINGS  47 

brick  is  better  but  more  costly.  Stone  has  few  if  any  advan- 
tages over  concrete  as  a  material,  tho  in  places  near  the 
quarries  it  can  sometimes  be  bought  at  low  prices.  Hollow 
blocks  are  said  to  do  fairly  well  where  protected  from  me- 
chanical abrasion.  Wooden  foundation  blocks  are  seldom 
used  except  in  temporary  buildings  or  in  certain  parts  of  the 
South  where  conditions  of  climate  are  favorable  to  the  use 
of  this  material.  In  a  building  planned  for  permanent  occu- 
pancy wooden  foundation  blocks,  if  used  at  all,  should  be 
treated  with  preservatives. 


Daly  Second-Deck  Truss  Bearing 

It  is  customary  in  building  double-decked  sheds  to  put 
in  two  or  even  three  foundations.  The  shed  rests  on  one,  the 
lumber  in  the  lower  bins  on  a  second  and  that  in  the  upper 
bins  on  a  third.  However,  it  is  more  common  for  the  shed 
structure  to  carry  the  weight  of  the  upper  deck  and  thus  to 
have  the  foundation  divided  into  two  units.  The  reason  for 
this  division  of  the  foundation  is  plain.  If  all  the  weight  is 
carried  on  a  single  foundation  and  the  load  on  the  lower  deck 
causes  one  section  to  settle  the  entire  shed  is  pulled  out  of 
shape.  To  avoid  this  the  bearings  of  the  lower  deck,  where 
a  large  percentage  of  the  stock  is  carried,  are  made  in  sep- 
arate units. 

This  division  of  the  foundation  is  advisable  in  those  sheds 
where  the  bearings  are  not  very  heavy.  The  real  value  of 
this  type  of  foundation  lies  in  the  fact  that  if  the  foundations 


48 


RETAIL  LUMBER  SHEDS 


are  made  separately  it  will  be  apparent  that  each  must  be 
strong  enough  to  bear  its  own  load;  while  if  a  single  founda- 
tion is  made  to  do  duty  for  both  there  is  a  temptation  to  make 


a"  TOP  LINING   OF  WOOD    •   . 


"-'  -••  CONCRETE  v--  />-   ;•;.: 


BEARING    TIMBER 


CONCRETED 


WNCRETE\ 


GROUND   LINE 


Lower-Deck  Bearings 

this  dual  foundation  little,  if  any,  stronger  than  would  have 
been  necessary  were  it  to  carry  but  a  single  load.  If  it  is 
large  and  strong  enough  to  bear  the  load  placed  upon  it 
there  is  little,  if  any,  advantage  in  separating  it  into  parts. 
But  if  the  owner  is  inclined  to  skimp  his  bearings  he  will  do 
well  to  separate  the  supports  of  the  lower  deck  from  those  of 


FOUNDATIONS  AND  BEARINGS 


49 


the  shed.    Then  if  the  former  sag  out  of  position  the  shed  will 
not  suffer. 

Several  types  of  lower  deck  bearings  are  in  use,  and  most 
of  them  are  proving  successful.  One  is  the  concrete  wall, 
which  does  very  well  except  that  it  may  interfere  with  ven- 
tilation. To  secure  sufficient  ventilation  the  builder  has  but 


Lumber  Stripped  in  Blocks  of  Five 

to  lay  a  number  of  tile  endwise  thru  the  wall.  The  usual 
tendency  is  to  put  in  too  few  of  these  tile.  Another  bearing 
is  made  by  placing  concrete  piers  a  few  feet  apart  and  laying 
a  sill  over  the  top.  James  Costello,  of  Liberty,  Mo.,  has 
installed  this  pattern  of  bearing  in  his  shed.  In  regard  to  it 
he  says:  "Comparing  the  concrete  piers  with  solid  walls  I 
very  much  prefer  the  piers  even  at  the  same  cost,  because 
they  keep  the  ground  dry  and  ventilate  thoroly  under  the 
piles."  Another  type  of  bearing  is  that  used  in  the  shed  of 
the  Hawkeye  Lumber  Co.,  of  Centerville,  la.  The  cement 


Outside  Bearings  of  Cement  and  Railroad  Iron 


FOUNDATIONS  AND  BEARINGS  51 


bearings  are  made  low,  and  on  top  of  them  are  wooden  bear- 
ings made  of  two  2x4*3  joined  by  pieces  of  2x4  spiked  in  at 
short  intervals  like  the  spindles  in  a  stair  rail.  These  bear- 
ings are  easily  lifted  out  for  repair  or  for  cleaning  the  bin. 

In  any  case  it  is  advisable  to  have  a  cement  bearing 
topped  with  wood,  and  this  wood  ought  to  be  treated  with  a 
preservative.  This  is  not  only  to  increase  the  length  of  serv- 
ice of  the  bearing  but  also  to  prevent  the  stock  from  being 
infected  from  below  with  dry  rot  or  other  lumber  diseases. 

Usually  the  bearings  of  upper  decks  are  made  of  2-inch 
pieces  set  on  edge.  This  answers  the  purpose  fairly  well; 
but  it  sometimes  happens  that  heavy  loads  are  carried  on 
these  bearings.  Every  lumberman  has  seen  these  sticks  split 
and  sagging.  This  is  a  loss  both  of  material  and  of  time, 
for  they  might  as  well  have  been  installed  properly  at  the 
beginning.  Claude  C.  Daly,  of  Newton,  la.,  devised  a  very 
strong  second  deck  bearing  truss  that  is  being  used  in  the  big 
shed  of  R.  C.  Daly  &  Co.  and  that  will  be  serviceable  in 
any  place  where  a  heavy  load  is  to  be  supported.  It  consists 
of  two  2x8's  with  a  sort  of  bridge  truss  between  them.  .  The 
first  2x8  is  put  in  place  and  has  a  2x8  block  a  foot  long  spiked 
to  the  middle  of  one  side.  A  2x4  cut  at  the  proper  bevel  rests 
against  the  end  of  this  block  at  the  upper  side  of  the  stick  and 
extends  diagonally  down  like  the  roof  of  a  house  until  it  rests 
on  the  frame  at  the  lower  edge  of  the  2x8.  Another  is  put  in 
on  the  other  side  of  the  block.  These  2x4*3  are  driven  tightly 
into  place  and  spiked.  Then  the  second  2x8  is  laid  against 
this  truss  and  spiked  fast.  This  makes  a  bearing  that  will 
support  almost  any  weight  that  it  ever  could  be  called  upon 
to  carrv. 


ALLEYS 

The  alley  is  an  elastic  element  in  a  shed  plan.  It  usually 
takes  up  or  yields  space  as  the  needs  of  the  situation  dictate. 
But  the  tendency  has  been  to  make  the  alley  too  narrow  even 
when  there  was  no  lack  of  yard  space.  This  has  been  due  to 
a  lack  of  the  appreciation  of  the  functions  of  the  alley  as  a 
part  of  the  yard's  equipment.  It  has  been  considered  in  the 
past  as  little  more  than  a  necessary  evil  requiring  much  costly 
roof  to  cover  it.  So  the  early  inclosed  sheds  started  in  life 
with  12-foot  alleys.  A  very  little  experience  proved  these 
to  be  too  narrow,  but  once  the  shed  is  built  the  alley  can  not 
be  broadened.  A  narrow  alley  makes  the  handling  of  stock 
unnecessarily  difficult,  and  it  also  increases  the  danger  from 
fire. 

While  lumbermen  have  agreed  that  1 2-foot  alleys  are  not 
wide  enough  they  have  not  decided  on  any  width  as  stand- 
ard. .Probably  a  great  majority  of  alleys  are  20  feet  in  width. 
This  allows  for  the  unloading  and  turning  of  lumber  with 
comparative  ease,  but  it  is  none  too  wide. 

Nearly  every  retailer,  if  asked  about  it,  will  say  that  he 
always  puts  his  new  stock  directly  into  the  bins  without  any 
useless  piling  down  in  the  alley.  This  is  the  ideal  manner  of 
handling,  but  few  lumbermen  are  able  to  realize  it  every 
time.  Half  a  dozen  cars  will  come  in  the  same  day.  To  get 
them  unloaded  without  paying  demurrage  it  may  be  neces- 
sary to  pile  down  a  large  amount  of  stock  somewhere.  The 
alley  is  about  the  only  available  place  that  is  under  roof.  But 


52 


ALLEYS  53 

if  the  alley  is  but  20  feet  wide  it  will  not  admit  of  much  extra 
piling  without  being  choked  up  entirely.  And  if  it  is  used  for 
this  purpose  the  new  piles  must  be  made  along  the  front  of 
the  bins,  locking  them  for  all  reasonable  intents  and  pur- 
poses. This  may  not  be  so  serious  so  far  as  supplying  cus- 
tomers is  concerned  if  the  alley  piles  are  made  up  of  the 
same  patterns,  lengths  and  sizes  as  the  stock  in  the  bins.  The 
customers  can  take  their  stock  out  of  the  piles.  But  it  is  a 
serious  thing  when  the  time  comes  to  put  these  alley  piles  into 
the  bins.  They  stand  in  their  own  way. 

Some  lumbermen  have  found  that  a  26-foot  alley  will 
allow  these  extra  piles  to  be  placed  along  the  center  with  a 
driveway  on  either  side.  The  advantage  of  this  is  at  once 
apparent,  and  the  only  cost  is  the  few  feet  of  extra  roof  and 
the  paving,  provided,  of  course,  that  the  alley  is  paved.  A 
lack  of  yard  space  sometimes  makes  this  impossible  of  ar- 
rangement; but  it  is  safe  to  say  that  no  lumberman  who  has 
ever  built  a  shed  with  a  26-foot  alley  has  regretted  it.  It 
offers  shelter  to  loaded  wagons  without  blocking  the  passage 
way.  It  gives  a  clear  space  for  the  piling  of  lumber  into  the 
bins  and  for  taking  it  out.  It  makes  ventilation  much  more 
generally  effective,  and  it  reduces  the  fire  risk. 

In  certain  big  yards  where  lumber  is  to  be  moved  to  the 
dry  kiln  or  into  the  planing  mill  a  narrow  gage  truck  track 
has  been  found  of  much  value.  A  system  is  laid  out  in  the 
yard  with  switches  and  turntables.  Then  a  yard  man  can 
push  a  hand  truck  around  the  yard  gathering  up  a  miscella- 
neous lot  of  stock.  He  has  no  difficulty  in  pushing  the  truck 
on  the  track  when  he  would  have  found  a  wagon  or  a  hand 
truck  designed  to  make  its  own  track  to  be  immovable.  How- 


ALLEYS  55 

ever,  this  arrangement  is  usually  more  valuable  in  connection 
with  a  large  yard  that  operates  a  correspondingly  large  plan- 
ing mill.  If  a  yard  has  a  reasonable  amount  of  paving  it  is 
usually  possible  for  the  men  to  move  wagons  or  hand  trucks 
to  the  bins  without  undue  effort. 

An  unpaved  alley  accumulates  dust.  But  when  an  alley 
is  dusty  it  is  dry  enough  to  be  swept.  Sometimes  this  sweep- 
ing has  to  be  done  with  a  shovel  and  a  wheelbarrow,  and  the 
objection  is  made  to  this  that  it  will  eventually  hollow  the 
alley  out.  But  after  dust  has  once  accumulated  several  inches 
in  depth  it  is  next  to  impossible  to  incorporate  it  into  the  hard 
earth  floor  again.  Some  lumbermen  have  made  the  mistake 
of  applying  a  liberal  dose  of  road  oil  to  a  dusty  alley  of  this 
kind  and  have  found  themselves  with  a  doughlike  mess  into 
which  they  sank  ankle  deep  and  which  clung  to  shoes  and 
wheels  and  lumber  and  tracked  into  their  offices  and  out  onto 
the  street  until  the  public  avoided  them  and  their  places 
of  business  like  a  pestilence.  This  oil  is  said  to  be  an  excel- 
lent thing  for  unpaved  shed  alleys,  but  before  it  is  applied  the 
dust  already  on  the  alleys  should  be  removed.  If  the  alley 
becomes  hollowed  out  it  is  better  to  bring  in  fresh  earth 
than  to  try  to  harden  the  dust  down  into  solid  roadway  again. 

Mention  may  be  made  at  this  place  of  a  device  projected 
by  the  Spangler  &  Grouleff  Lumber  Co.,  of  Churubusco, 
Ind.  It  is  not  known  how  successful  the  arrangement  proved, 
but  at  least  it  holds  a  suggestion  for  the  inventive  lumberman 
intent  upon  labor  saving  devices.  The  chief  objection  that 
occurs  to  one  thinking  of  construction  details  is  the  difficulty 
of  supporting  the  track.  Here  is  the  company's  own  account 
of  the  project: 


56  RETAIL  LUMBER  SHEDS 

"We  are  figuring  on  running  a  track  similar  to  a  hay  track 
the  full  length  of  the  driveway,  and  using  a  regular  machine- 
shop  lifting  apparatus,  which  we  will  hook  on  to  the  load, 
raise  it  up  and  slip  timbers  under  the  ends  that  will  rest  on 
heavy  timbers  running  crosswise  of  the  driveway.  That  will 
place  our  load  on  a  line  with  our  overhead  bins  so  we  can  pull 
the  boards  from  the  load  straight  back  endwise  into  the  bins, 
and  at  the  same  time  it  will  unload  our  wagons  in  from  two 
to  three  minutes  per  load." 

Use  has  been  made  of  a  somewhat  similar  device  for 
lifting  a  load  from  a  loading  wagon  to  the  delivery  truck. 


GALLERIES 

Every  shed  that  has  more  than  one  deck  must  have  a 
gallery  or  platform  in  front  of  the  upper  bins.  These  gal- 
leries have  been  made  according  to  a  great  number  of  pat- 
terns. Like  other  features  of  the  modern  shed  they  were 
developed  but  slowly.  In  some  sheds  the  upper  deck  was  an 
afterthought  and  lay  so  close  to  the  roof  that  there  was  not 
room  for  a  gallery.  If  it  were  put  on  a  level  with  the  bottom 
of  the  bins  a  person  could  not  stand  erect  on  it.  If  it  were 
put  lower  down  it  would  interfere  with  the  storage  of  stock 
in  the  lower  bins.  This  particular  problem  has  been  over- 
come in  certain  sheds  by  hanging  a  movable  platform  on  a 
track  similar  to  that  used  for  a  sliding  barn  door. 

Others  of  the  early  galleries  were  a  positive  danger  be- 
cause of  being  narrow  and  unprotected  and  because  the  floor- 
ing boards  were  merely  laid  in  place  instead  of  being  spiked 
down.  Some  men  seem  to  have  the  feeling  that  any  precau- 
tion against  falling  from  a  gallery  is  a  sign  of  unmanly  weak- 
ness. They  prefer  to  show  a  robust  disregard  for  danger. 
But  taking  unnecessary  chances  is  a  sign  of  silliness  rather 
than  of  courage,  and  a  guard  rail  in  front  of  a  solid  gallery 
indicates  that  the  owner  is  a  man  of  sense. 

There  is  a  difference  of  opinion  about  the  width  that  gal- 
leries should  be.  Some  builders  have  gone  to  extremes  in 
narrowness  and  others  in  unnecessary  width.  The  size  and 
general  design  of  the  shed  will  be  determining  factors.  It 
may  be  said  that  two  feet  is  too  narrow  and  that  six  feet  is 

57 


58  RETAIL  LUMBER  SHEDS 

unnecessarily  wide.  Possibly  42  to  48  inches  will  usually  be  . 
about  right.  The  galleries  in  a  shed  built  for  permanence 
should  be  solid  enough  so  that  a  person  working  on  them  will 
feel  that  he  has  a  firm  footing.  The  flooring  plank  should 
be  nailed  solidly  in  place  with  no  cracks  thru  which  a  foot 
may  be  thrust  or  inequalities  of  surface  that  may  catch  a  toe 
and  cause  a  stumble. 

Each  gallery  should  be  protected  by  a  heavy  rail,  as  was 
stated  above.  This  rail  is  not  the  nuisance  that  certain  lum- 
bermen inexperienced  in  its  use  seem  to  think.  It  is  not  in  the 
way.  On  the  contrary  it  is  a  positive  help  in  storing  lumber 
in  the  upper  bins,  for  it  acts  as  a  fulcrum  over  which  the 
sticks  may  be  swung.  Since  it  must  serve  this  purpose  the 
rail  should  be  strong,  and  it  is  better  for  the  purpose  if  it  is 
dressed  and  has  the  corners  rounded.  As  a  protection  against 
falling  it  is  indispensable.  No  matter  how  sure  a  man  may 
say  he  is  of  not  falling  he  will  have  the  possibility  in  mind  all 
the  time,  and  this  will  slow  up  his  work.  In  these  days  of 
employers'  liability  no  lumberman  can  afford  to  let  his  men 
take  chances.  And  even  if  he  were  not  running  the  risk  of 
heavy  damages  he  would  not  be  showing  a  decent  regard  for 
the  welfare  of  his  men  if  he  were  to  make  it  necessary  for 
them  to  take  these  needless  risks. 

A  toe  board  is  another  safety  device  that  is  not  so  essential 
as  a  guard  rail,  but  it  is  an  added  factor  of  security.  It  con- 
sists of  a  strip  nailed  along  the  outer  edge  of  the  platform  and 
extending  an  inch  or  more  above  it.  The  purpose  of  this 
board  is  to  prevent  a  man  from  sliding  a  foot  off  the  edge  and 
sustaining  a  fall  between  the  platform  and  the  guard  rail.  A 
man  may  be  pulling  a  board  out  of  a  pile.  He  has  one  foot 


GALLERIES  59 

f 

extended  to  the  rear.  His  board  yields  unexpectedly,  and  he 
slides  this  rear  foot  over  the  edge  with  a  scraped  shin  and  a 
bruised  back  as  a  result,  to  say  nothing  of  the  scare  it  gives 
him. 

Not  many  customers  take  the  trouble  to  inspect  lumber 
in  the  bins  any  more.  Retailers  are  coming  to  say  less  and 
less  about  grades  in  these  days  of  building  service  and  instead 
specify  that  the  lumber  will  be  "satisfactory."  Few  persons 
know  much  about  grades  unless  they  are  engaged  in  the 
lumber  business.  But  it  will  be  well  to  have  the  shed  ar- 
ranged so  that  it  will  be  easy  and  safe  for  any  customer  to 
inspect  the  lumber  in  any  bin  in  the  yard.  For  this  purpose 
as  well  as  for  the  safety  of  the  men  a  solid  and  secure  gallery 
is  essential. 

Getting  up  onto  the  gallery  is  another  problem  that  has 
been  solved  more  or  less  satisfactorily  in  a  number  of  ways. 
The  most  desirable  means  of  approach  is  a  solid  stair  with  a 
planed  hand  rail  in  the  proper  position.  The  objections  to 
these  stairs  are  numerous.  In  the  first  place  they  spoil  part 
of  a  lower  bin.  Nothing  can  be  piled  behind  them  except 
with  the  expenditure  of  much  labor.  In  the  second  place  it 
is  hard  to  locate  stairs  at  all  desirable  points,  even  if  storage 
space  is  sacrificed.  But  the  Advantage  of  these  stairs  is  so 
great  that  it  seems  advisable  to  make  serious  efforts  to  install 
them  at  least  at  the  ends  of  the  galleries.  Any  person,  no 
matter  how  agile  and  experienced  with  ladders  he  may  be, 
can  climb  a  stair  with  more  ease  than  he  can  climb  a  ladder. 
And  in  the  case  of  customers,  mentioned  in  the  paragraph 
before  this,  the  stair  is  even  more  necessary.  In  sheds  of  the 
type  erected  by  the  Jasper  Lumber  Co.,  of  Newton,  la., 


60 


RETAIL  LUMBER  SHEDS 


described  on  another  page,  the  stair  takes  up  comparatively 
small  space.  In  this  shed  there  are  three  decks,  none  of 
which  is  more  than  about  6  feet  in  height.  The  lower  deck 
projects  into  the  alley,  the  second  comes  even  with  the  posts 


Stair  to   Second' and  Third  Decks 

and  the  third  is  set  back  of  the  posts.  This  makes  a  natural 
slope  backward  from  the  alley.  The  stair  can  be  set  on  this 
slope  so  that  a  person  gomg  up  the  stair  has  his  back  to  the 
alley.  This  blocks  only  the  space  the  width  of  the  stairs.  If 
the  stair  goes  up  diagonally  in  front  of  the  bin  it  obstructs 
much  more  space. 


GALLERIES  61 

For  parts  of  the  alley  where  stairs  are  too  inconvenient 
ladders  may  be  used.  The  ordinary  garden  variety  of  lad- 
der that  is  unattached  is  a  snare  if  used  for  this  purpose.  It 
is  never  in  place.  Some  arrangement  must  be  made  to  make 
it  a  fixture  in  its  own  locality.  If  the  second  deck  is  high 
enough  so  that  a  ladder  hinged  to  it  and  swung  out  horizon- 
tally will  clear  the  wagons  that  drive  along  the  alley  the 
arrangement  is  easily  made.  A  rope  with  a  pulley  and 
weight  will  pull  it  up  as  soon  as  released,  and  a  short  piece 
of  rope  tied  to  one  of  the  rounds  will  make  it  possible  for  a 
person  on  the  ground  to  pull  it  down. 

Alley  bridges  are  equally  necessary.  Some  lumbermen 
have  installed  movable  bridges  that  run  up  and  down  the 
alley  on  tracks  set  on  the  second  deck,  and  these  men  seem  to 
like  their  contrivances.  If  it  is  necessary  to  carry  stock  across 
this  arrangement  is  justifiable;  but  it  is  hard  to  think  of  a 
situation  that  would  make  much  of  this  kind  of  transfer  nec- 
essary. The  usual  use  for  an  alley  bridge  is  to  permit  a  man 
to  cross  to  the  upper  deck  on  the  other  side  of  the  alley  with- 
out descending  to  the  ground.  For  this  purpose  there  seems 
small  need  for  a  movable  bridge,  for  if  the  bridge  is  rolled 
down  to  the  opposite  end  of  the  alley  and  the  man  goes  down 
there  he  simply  crosses  and  leaves  it  where  it  is. 

If  possible  a  bridge  should  be  located  every  50  feet,  tho 
that  is  rather  closer  together  than  they  are  usually  placed. 
These  bridges  should  be  as  solid  and  as  securely  railed  as  are 
the  galleries. 


O.  E.  Anderson  and  His  Piling  Board,  Bismarck,  N.  Dak. 


Yard  of  the  ?4ortz  Lumber  Co.,  Bismarck,  N.  Dak. 


BINS 

There  is  no  one  size  that  is  best  for  all  bins.  As  they  must 
vary  in  depth  to  accommodate  the  different  lengths  carried, 
so  they  must  vary  in  width  to  suit  the  amount  of  the  different 
patterns  usually  kept  in  stock.  Large  city  yards  and  whole- 
sale yards  carry  vast  amounts  of  each  pattern,  and  they  find 
it  necessary  to  build  piles  30  feet  high.  Their  experience 
indicates  that  in  every  lumber  yard  the  storage  space  and 
arrangements  must  be  fitted  to  the  stock  carried.  A  yard 
that  carries  a  big  stock  of  2x4*3  will  not  find  it  expedient  to 
pile  them  in  4-foot  bins;  and  neither  will  it  be  expedient  to 
carry  finish  lumber  in  1 8-foot  bins.  Every  yard  needs  bins 
of  different  size.  The  proportion  of  wide  and  narrow  bins 
must  be  determined  in  advance  by  observation  and  by  esti- 
mating the  amount  of  each  pattern  that  is  likely  to  be  carried. 

Bins  should  be  of  such  width  that  the  stock  can  be  piled  in 
them  with  a  few  inches  at  the  side  to  spare.  For  this  pur- 
pose it  is  well  to  avoid  even  feet  between  the  posts.  Other- 
wise considerable  space  is  apt  to  be  wasted.  If  the  stock 
wedges  in  tightly  between  the  posts  it  can  not  be  handled 
readily,  and  in  the  end  the  bin  will  be  filled  with  one  tier  of 
boards  left  out. 

It  is  the  practice  in  many  yards  to  make  two  piles  of  each 
kind  and  size  of  stock.  Then  sales  are  made  out  of  one  pile 
until  it  is  exhausted.  New  stock  is  put  in  this  pile,  and  sales 
are  then  made  out  of  the  other.  This  arrangement  makes  it 
possible  to  dispose  of  old  stock  without  going  to  the  extra 
labor  of  taking  the  bottom  courses  out  before  new  stock  is 

63 


64  RETAIL  LUMBER  SHEDS 

put  in.  This  does  not  make  it  necessary  that  there  should 
be  two  separate  bins.  Stock  can  be  piled  in  two  divisions 
in  the  same  bin.  For  this  purpose  a  bin  measuring  9  feet 
on  center  is  very  satisfactory.  It  makes  possible  the  storage 
of  two  4-foot  piles  with  free  space,  between  and  at  the  sides. 
This  makes  ordinary  4-foot  lath  available  for  sticking. 
However,  some  lumbermen  do  not  recommend  the  use  of 
lath.  They  find  them  too  light  for  the  purpose.  Lath  break 
easily  and  do  not  give  much  rigidness  to  the  pile.  Neither 
do  they  leave  much  ventilation  space.  In  place  of  lath  these 
lumbermen  recommend  strips  measuring  1x2  inches. 

The  increasing  number  of  kinds  and  patterns  of  lumber 
carried  has  operated  in  two  ways  in  changing  the  size  of 
bins.  It  has  made  necessary  a  greater  number  of  storage 
spaces,  and  it  has  reduced  the  amount  of  stock  of  each  kind 
carried.  This  calls  for  smaller  storage  units.  There  is  no 
doubt  but  that  bins  are  much  smaller  now  than  they  were 
even  a  few  years  ago.  The  sheds  built  twenty  years  ago  with 
large  bins  show  much  waste  space  unless  these  storage  spaces 
have  been  divided  or  have  been  filled  by  more  than  one  kind 
and  size  of  lumber. 

The  Jasper  Lumber  Co.,  of  Newton,  la.,  has  arranged 
these  duplicate  bins  one  above  the  other.  The  reason  for 
this  is  that  in  actual  practice  the  duplicate  bins  are  not  used 
equally.  It  is  usually  possible  to  store  most  of  the  material 
in  one,  and  of  course  with  this  arrangement  the  bin  used  most 
is  the  lower  one.  Then  if  stock  comes  a  little  damp  it  can 
be  put  in  the  upper  bin  where  ventilation  is  more  complete. 
These  bins  are  6  feet  high,  so  the  upper  bins  are  not  out  of 
reach. 


BINS  65 

Piling  boards  are  used  by  a  number  of  retailers.  These 
are  aids  to  getting  the  front  of  the  pile  even  and  consist  of 
a  heavy  plank  fastened  across  the  front  of  the  bin.  The  man 
on  the  pile  drags  the  board  over  the  plank,  pushes  the  end 
against  it  and  lets  go.  When  the  pile  reaches  the  upper 
edge  of  the  plank  the  latter  is  raised.  A  number  of  devices 
for  securing  and  regulating  these  piling  boards  have  been 
worked  out.  O.  E.  Anderson,  of  the  Nortz  Lumber  Co., 
Bismarck,  N.  D.,  has  fixed  up  one  that  gives  good  satisfac- 
tion. This  consists  of  a  plank  the  right  length  to  fit  the 
narrower  bins  in  the  yard.  At  each  end  is  an  iron  bracket 
that  will  clamp  around  the  uprights  that  divide  the  bins. 
This  bracket  is  tightened  by  a  crank  nut,  and  the  whole 
device  can  be  put  in  place  and  tightened  in  a  brief  time. 
Other  yards  are  equipped  with  piling  boards  that  are  ar- 
ranged to  slide  up  and  down  in  grooves.  Some  are  sup- 
ported by  counter  weights.  Most  of  them  work  fairly  well, 
but  it  takes  no  little  amount  of  material  to  put  a  plank  in 
front  of  each  bin,  and  none  of  the  sliding  kind  can  be  made 
perfectly  rigid.  They  are  also  hard  to  elevate  after  stock 
has  been  piled  against  them. 


VENTILATION 

Shed  ventilation  is  to  be  distinguished  from  mere  windi- 
ness.  More  than  one  shed  with  wide  open  doors  thru  which 
the  wind  could  sweep  in  gales  has  housed  lumber  that  was 
spoiling  for  air.  Adequate  ventilation  means  a  steady  cir- 
culation of  air  thru  all  parts  of  the  building.  To  obtain  this 
some  attention  must  be  paid  to  correct  design  and  construc- 
tion. The  outlet  in  the  roof  must  be  such  as  to  cause  an  up- 
ward draft,  and  the  intake  must  be  located  so  as  to  cause  the 
air  in  its  passage  thru  the  building  to  reach  all  the  storage 
points. 

The  most  successful  roof  outlet  is  a  scientifically  designed 
cupola.  A  number  of  companies  are  manufacturing  cupolas 
that  are  giving  good  satisfaction.  A  cupola  is  in  the  nature 
of  an  air  pump  and  acts  much  like  a  chimney.  It  used  to  be 
supposed  that  the  draft  up  a  chimney  was  caused  by  the  heat 
of  the  fire;  that  the  expanded  air  and  gas  being  lighter  than 
the  cold  air  outside  floated  upward  just  as  wood  rises  in 
water.  But  there  is  always  a  draft  up  a  well  designed  chim- 
ney whether  it  is  carrying  off  hot  smoke  or  not.  It  has  been 
proved  by  experiments  conducted  by  the  King  Ventilating 
Co.,  of  Owatonna,  Minn.,  that  at  the  height  of  about  30  feet 
there  is  always  a  breeze.  On  the  stillest  day,  when  not  a 
breath  seems  to  stir,  there  is  a  movement  of  air  at  this  height, 
and  its  velocity  has  never  been  found  to  be  less  than  three 
miles  an  hour.  The  motion  of  this  breeze  passing  over  the 
top  of  the  chimney  produces  a  partial  vacuum  and  causes 

66 


VENTILATION  9  67 

the  air  below  to  rise.  This  action  may  be  seen  in  the  opera- 
tion of  a  common  atomizer.  A  blast  of  air  from  a  rubber 
bulb  passing  over  the  end  of  a  tube  extending  down  into  a 
liquid  creates  a  vacuum  in  the  tube  and  causes  the  liquid  to 
rise.  The  second  or  third  blast  is  filled  with  tiny  drops  of 
the  liquid  that  has  been  pumped  up  the  tube  in  this  manner. 

The  old-fashioned  cupola  made  with  slats  set  at  an  angle 
to  deflect  upward  any  breeze  entering  thru  the  sides  is  only 
partly  successful  as  an  air  pump.  The  velocity  of  the  wind 
is  checked,  and  part  of  it  rising  inside  and  striking  the  roof 
is  deflected  downward  into  the  building.  So  while  a  cer- 
tain amount  of  air  is  drawn  out  the  back  draft  from  the 
cupola  tends  to  replace  it.  The  result  is  a  motion  of  the  air 
up  under  the  roof  that  may  have  little  or  no  effect  on  that 
around  the  piles  below.  The  cupolas  manufactured  by  the 
King  Ventilating  Co.  and  other  reliable  concerns  are  so  de- 
signed as  to  prevent  back  draft  and  to  insure  a  steady  upward 
current  of  air  no  matter  what  the  velocity  of  the  outside  wind. 

If  for  any  reason  it  is  desired  to  ventilate  some  closed 
room  in  the  shed  it  will  be  necessary  to  install  foul  air  pipes 
leading  from  this  room  up  into  the  cupola.  Otherwise  it 
is  possible  to  get  satisfactory  results  merely  by  placing  the 
cupolas  on  the  roof  and  allowing  the  entire  interior  of  the 
building  to  act  as  a  foul  air  flue. 

The  location  of  the  intake  is  important,  for  if  ventilation 
is  to  be  successful  and  complete  the  current  of  air  must  move 
under  the  piles  and  along  their  ends.  To  make  this  move- 
ment reasonably  certain  the  intake  is  usually  placed  low 
along  the  sides  of  the  building.  It  is  a  commonly  and  seem- 
ingly successful  and  acceptable  practice  to  build  wooden 


68  RETAIL  LUMBER  SHEDS 

sheds  with  the  siding  near  the  bottom  spaced  with  inch  cracks 
between  the  boards.  If  this  siding  is  corn  cribbing  with 
the  edges  beveled  to  slope  outward  like  a  roof  very  little  rain 
or  snow  will  blow  in,  and  there  will  be  a  good  circulation  of 
air.  Sheds  built  of  brick  or  hollow  tile  should  have  spaces 
left  low  in  the  sides.  These  may  be  screened  if  they  are  so 
located  that  small  animals  may  creep  thru. 

It  is  desirable  to  have  these  intakes  so  arranged  that  they 
can  be  closed  in  severely  cold  weather.  Some  lumbermen  do 
not  favor  this  idea.  They  prefer  that  the  ventilation  system 
be  in  active  operation  at  all  times.  T.  H.  Dolby,  of  Ames, 
la.,  has  a  shed  which  is  most  thoroly  ventilated.  It  is  sided 
clear  to  the  roof  with  spaced  corn  cribbing,  and  the  offsets 
in  the  roof  are  framed  for  windows  but  have  been  left  with- 
out sash.  There  is  little  to  prevent  the  blowing  of  the  wind 
thru  any  part  of  the  building.  But  most  lumbermen  desire 
that  an  inclosed  shed  shall  be  more  than  a  roof  and  an  in- 
closure  against  thieves.  It  is  somewhat  to  be  doubted 
whether  a  shed  built  in  this  open  fashion  is  a  better  place  in 
which  to  keep  lumber  well  aired  than  is  a  tighter  shed  with 
a  scientifically  installed  ventilating  system. 

The  shed  belonging  to  R.  C.  Daly  &  Co.  (Inc.) ,  of  New- 
ton, la.,  is  built  of  hollow  blocks.  Several  tiers  of  these 
blocks  the  length  of  each  bin  are  set  lengthwise  thru  the  wall. 
In  order  to  control  the  inflow  of  air  a  board  is  fitted  on  the 
inside  of  the  wall  over  the  ends  of  these  open  tile.  This 
board  is  set  in  wooden  brackets  that  allow  it  to  slide  up  and 
down.  When  down  it  closes  the  ventilation  openings.  A 
notch  is  cut  in  each  bracket  so  that  when  the  board  is  raised 
it  can  be  moved  out  at  the  bottom  to  engage  this  notch.  A 


VENTILATION  69 

p. 

slight  push  will  release  it  and  allow  it  to  slide  down  the 
groove,  closing  the  ventilators. 

The  lower  deck  bearings  should  be  constructed  in  such  a 
way  as  to  allow  a  circulation  of  air  under  the  piles.  This  is 
not  so  much  to  dry  the  lumber  as  to  keep  the  ground  itself 
dry.  A  space  of  15  or  20  inches  between  the  pile  and  the 
ground  is  most  desirable,  and  the  bearings  should  be  made 
in  such  a  way  as  to  permit  air  to  pass  thru  them.  This  may 
be  effected  by  setting  tile  thru  the  cement  bearings,  or  it 
may  be  done  by  using  a  heavy  cross  sill  set  on  concrete  piers 
as  a  bearing.  J.  J.  Edwards,  manager  of  the  Hawkeye 
Lumber  Co.'s  yard  at  Centerville,  la.,  has  installed  wooden 
top  bearings  made  of  2X4's.  One  of  these  sticks  lies  on  the 
supporting  bearing  of  concrete;  the  other  serves  as  the  sill 
upon  which  the  stock  rests;  and  the  two  are  joined  by  short 
pieces  of  2x4  placed  some  eight  or  ten  inches  apart,  making 
a  rigid  crib  that  allows  an  almost  unobstructed  flow  of  air. 
These  cribs  are  arranged  so  that  they  may  be  taken  out  easily. 

There  should  be  a  movement  of  air  along  the  rear  ends 
of  the  piles,  and  to  make  this  possible  the  bins  should  be 
deep  enough  from  front  to  back  to  accommodate  the  stock 
without  its  being  crowded  tight  against  the  rear  wall. 

Other  mention  of  ventilation  will  be  made  from  time  to 
time  in  dealing  with  different  types  of  sheds  and  warehouses. 


LIGHTING 

The  kind  of  artificial  lighting  used  will  depend  on  cir- 
cumstances. But  at  present  no  light  is  safer  and  more  satis- 
factory than  electricity.  The  lighting  of  the  office  presents 
no  problems  different  from  those  encountered  in  any  other 
office,  and  the  local  electrician  will  be  the  proper  person  to 
whom  to  refer  the  planning  and  installation  of  the  circuits. 
Electric  wiring  is  safe  enough  if  installed  by  a  competent 
and  honest  workman,  and  no  other  should  be  employed. 
This  is  not  a  job  for  an  amateur  unless  he  is  peculiarly  quali- 
fied for  it.  Defective  wiring  has  caused  a  good  many  lum- 
ber yard  fires  and  will  doubtless  cause  many  more.  This 
point  is  dealt  with  in  another  chapter  devoted  to  the  reduc- 
tion of  fire  risks. 

Some  lumbermen  are  inclined  to  doubt  the  necessity  for 
artificial  lighting  in  the  sheds.  They  think  that  nature  has 
provided  sufficient  light  for  these  places  and  that  the  first 
cost  and  upkeep  of  artificial  lighting  is  not  a  justifiable  ex- 
pense. However,  there  are  a  good  many  other  very  potent 
reasons  why  sheds  should  be  well  lighted  at  all  times  when 
work  is  being  done  in  them.  A  shed  with  plenty  of  windows 
is  a  much  more  attractive  place  than  is  one  in  which  on  the 
brightest  day  there  is  only  a  gloomy  twilight.  Customers 
will  like  it  better  and  consciously  or  unconsciously  will  have 
an  increased  respect  for  the  yard  and  for  the  owner.  Plenty 
of  daylight  is  good  for  the  yard  itself.  Light  is  the  enemy  of 
fungous  growths  that  cause  lumber  decay.  A  well  lighted 

70 


LIGHTING  71 

shed  is  likely  to  have  more  care  than  will  a  dark  one.  Dis- 
ordered piles  will  be  more  apparent  and  will  receive  atten- 
tion sooner.  Lumber  that  is  damaged  by  light  will  of  course 
be  kept  in  light-tight  rooms;  but  for  the  rest  of  the  stock 
there  can  hardly  be  too  much  light.  Some  -dealers  have 
found  it  expedient  to  paint  the  interiors  of  their  sheds  white 
to  secure  greater  diffusion. 

If  daylight  is  important,  artificial  light  is  but  a  degree 
less  so.  Artificial  light  does  not  retard  rot  perhaps,  but  it 
does  prevent  the  slowing  up  of  labor  on  winter  afternoons. 
In  northern  States  at  least  there  is  a  long  daily  period  of  twi- 
light and  darkness  before  quitting  time.  No  man  can  work 
well  in  the  dark;  so  the  yard  loses  daily  some  of  the  labor  it 
is  paying  for  and  that  it  could  have  except  for  this  darkness. 
Two  or  three  high  power  lights  set  well  up  in  the  alley  will 
make  working  in  the  evening  as  easy  as  working  at  mid  day. 

Every  lumber  yard  will  have  several  circuits.  There 
will  be  the  circuit  in  the  main  office,  one  in  each  alley,  one 
in  the  sash  and  door  room,  and  others  in  the  stable,  show 
room,  show  window  and  so  on,  depending  on  the  complete- 
ness of  the  equipment.  Some  of  these  lights  will  be  apparent 
to  the  most  careless  man  charged  with  closing  up  the  place 
in  the  evening.  Others,  such  as  those  in  the  stable  and  the 
stock  room,  will  not.  It  is  an  easy  and  inexpensive  thing 
to  include  a  so-called  pilot  light  in  each  of  these  circuits. 
If  the  switches  are  located  in  the  office  the  installation  of 
these  lights  will  require  but  little  extra  wiring.  Pilot  lights 
are  about  one  candle  power  and  are  located  in  some  conspicu- 
ous place  in  the  office.  Then  when  the  last  man  turns  off  the 
office  lights  at  night,  if  any  of  the  circuits  are  on  he  will  be 


72  RETAIL  LUMBER  SHEDS 

informed  of  that  fact  automatically  by  the  glow  of  the  pilot 
light.  It  doesn't  break  a  man  up  to  leave  a  circuit  switched 
on  all  night,  but  it  is  a  useless  expense  that  this  little  device 
will  save. 


MOLDING  STORAGE 

The  storing  of  moldings  has  become  important  during 
the  last  few  years  because  of  the  fact  that  so  much  interior 
finish  is  varnished  instead  of  painted.  A  dirty  or  discolored 
stick  is  useless  for  this  purpose.  And  when  a  customer  is 
paying  full  price  for  what  he  buys  he  does  not  want  shop- 
worn goods.  Formerly  molding  was  kept  in  a  haphazard 
way  because  it  was  considered  of  little  value  anyway  and 
because  customers  could  be  induced  to  take  about  anything 
that  was  offered.  If  they  objected  they  were  told  that  paint 
would  cover  the  dirt.  That  argument  is  no  longer  effective. 
They  refuse  to  take  it,  and  they  are  apt  to  attach  a  dispro- 
portionate significance  to  the  fact  that  the  yard  carries  such 
stuff.  Molding  costs  more  than  it  once  did.  And  if  it  is 
to  be  carried  at  all  it  ought  to  have  a  storage  place  well 
enough  built  to  keep  it  straight  and  clean. 

A  number  of  molding  cases  have  been  devised,  and  all  of 
them  give  a  certain  degree  of  satisfaction.  The  one  usually 
installed  in  new  yards,  if  there  is  a  place  suitable  for  it,  is  the 
end-storage  case.  All  the  advantages  can  be  claimed  for  the 
end  storage  of  moldings  that  are  advanced  in  support  of  the 
end  storing  of  yard  stock,  and  the  former  has  fewer  disad- 
vantages. It  should  be  placed  in  a  dust-tight  room,  and 
of  course  this  room  must  be  as  high  as  the  longest  molding 
carried  in  stock.  The  usual  design  is  a  short  alley  with 
cases  on  either  side.  These  cases  are  given  a  backward  slant 
of  about  an  inch  to  the  foot  or  enough  to  keep  the  sticks  from 

73 


Pigeon-Hole  Molding  Case 


MOLDING  STORAGE 


75 


falling  forward.  At  regular  intervals  there  are  strips  nailed 
horizontally  to  the  sides  of  the  pockets,  and  these  serve  as 
side  supports  and  as  indicators  of  length.  A  person  can 


Molding  Rack,   C.  L.   Colman  Lumber   Co.,   Albert  Lea,   Minn. 

pick  out  a  piece  of  molding  and  tell  its  length  at  a  glance  by 
noting  which  of  these  side  supports  the  upper  end  is  nearest. 
Moldings  stored  on  end  will  shed  dust  readily,  for  the  jar- 
ring caused  by  picking  out  a  piece  will  dislodge  it  and  cause 
it  to  fall  to  the  floor  instead  of  down  among  the  other  pieces 


76  RETAIL  LUMBER  SHEDS 

as  happens  in  horizontal  storage.    The  door  at  the  end  of  the 
alley  should  be  tight. 

Sometimes  the  shed  is  not  high  enough  to  admit  an  end- 
storage  rack.  In  that  case  the  owner  may  choose  among 
several  horizontal  types.  The  pigeonhole  type  is  familiar 
to  every  lumberman.  It  is  a  series  of  small  compartments 
into  which  the  molding  is  thrust  from  the  end.  It  is  neces- 
sary to  employ  some  kind  of  marking  such  as  different  colors 
of  chalk  to  indicate  the  length.  Boxes  with  cleats  across 
the  bottoms  are  said  to  shed  dust  better  than  those  with  solid 
bottoms,  but  the  latter  keep  the  stock  straighter.  This  kind 
of  rack  should  be  located  with  enough  clear  space  in  front  so 
that  the  longest  pieces  can  be  pulled  out  of  the  boxes.  Some 
lumbermen  have  made  horizontal  cases  by  arranging 
brackets  up  the  side  of  a  frame.  The  moldings  are  laid  on 
these  brackets,  which  should  be  rather  close  together  to  pre- 
vent warping  of  the  stock. 


FLOORING  STORAGE  AND  WARM  ROOMS 

Even  the  smallest  country  yard  in  these  days  sells  more 
or  less  hardwood  flooring.  No  kind  of  interior  trim  requires 
more  careful  handling  than  hardwood  floors.  If  the  boards 
become  damp  and  swell  only  slightly  before  being  laid  they 
will  shrink  and  show  cracks  after  being  laid.  There  is  only 
one  kind  of  satisfactory  hardwood  floor,  and  that  is  a  perfect 
floor.  Any  other  kind  will  cause  much  more  trouble  and 
loss  than  the  sale  is  worth.  In  order  to  keep  this  flooring  in 
perfect  condition  at  all  seasons  it  is  necessary  to  keep  it  warm. 
The  amount  of  heat  need  not  be  large,  but  there  should  be 
enough  to  keep  dampness  away.  . 

In  order  to  accomplish  this  there  must  be  a  specially 
built  room  and  some  satisfactory  source  of  heat.  R.  S.  Bas- 
sett,  manager  of  the  Alexander  Lumber  Co.,  Champaign, 
111.,  describes  a  warm  room  in  his  storage  shed.  This  room 
is  built  with  a  double  thickness  of  i-inch  flooring  with  a 
layer  of  i-ply  roofing  between  to  keep  out  dampness  and 
dust.  The  walls, .floor,  ceiling  and  door  are  all  constructed 
in  this  manner.  Mr.  Bassett  says  this  room  has  been  very 
satisfactory  and  that  it  is  absolutely  moisture  and  dust  proof. 
There  are  other  methods  of  insulation,  but  this  is  a  simple 
one  that  requires  no  materials  not  carried  in  the  ordinary 
yard. 

Heating  a  warm  room  is  a  more  difficult  problem.  If 
it  is  located  near  the  office  it  can  be  heated  by  the  office  fur- 
nace. Steam  and  hot  water  heat  are  considered  better  than 

77 


78  RETAIL  LUMBER  SHEDS 

hot  air,  tho  the  latter  is  used  by  numbers  of  successful  re- 
tailers. This  furnace  heat  does  well  enough  in  the  winter, 
but  it  often  happens  that  periods  of  damp  weather  play  havoc 
with  the  stock  in  the  summer  time  when  there  is  no  heat  in 
the  furnace  pipes.  It  is  possible  to  kindle  fires  once  in  a 
while  and  to  throw  all  the  heat  into  the  warm  room.  Mr. 
Bassett  tried  electric  heaters  a  few  years  ago  and  regret- 
fully decided  against  them.  They  answered  the  purpose 
excellently  and  proved  to  be  the  simplest  and  safest  source  of 
heat;  but  unfortunately  the  cost  of  the  current  proved  pro- 
hibitive. In  those  places  where  electricity  is  cheap  the  elec- 
tric heaters  should  prove  satisfactory. 

A  good  many  flooring  rooms  are  located  over  the  office. 
This  simplifies  connecting  them  with  the  furnace  heat  and 
also  lifts  them  high  above  ground  dampness.  Some  Ium6er- 
men  rely  on  heat  from  the  sun  on  the  roof  to  keep  the  stock 
dry  in  summer.  But  if  outside  heat  is  to  be  fully  effective 
some  of  the  insulation  of  the  ceiling  may  have  to  be  sacri- 
ficed, and  this  is  likely  to  prove  disastrous  in  damp,  cool 
weather. 


TIMBER  STORAGE  AND  HANDLING 
EQUIPMENT 

The  question  of  handling  timbers  in  a  retail  yard  admits 
of  a  wide  variety  of  treatment.  There  are  yards  that  handle 
almost  no  timbers,  while  others  count  their  timber  trade  as 
a  highly  important  part  of  the  business.  Under  these  cir- 
cumstances much  will  have  to  be  left  to  individual  pref- 
erence. 

The  yard  that  sells  only  a  few  large  sticks  a  year  needs 
to  take  little  trouble  with  its  timber  yard.  Some  place  that 
is  out  of  the  way  of  general  activity  and  that  is  long  enough 
to  carry  the  stuff  and  that  can  be  kept  reasonably  dry  and 
free  from  disease-breeding  litter  will  do  well  enough.  But 
the  yard  that  does  a  reasonably  active  business  in  timbers  will 
need  to  take  considerable  thought  about  the  matter.  Timbers 
should  be  kept  under  cover  unless  they  are  moved  very  rap- 
idly. Handling  them  by  unassisted  man  power  is  wasteful 
of  time  and  is  extremely  hard  and  sometimes  dangerous  work. 
This  overhead  handling  cost  is  often  enough  to  make  it  im- 
possible to  make  a  profit  on  selling  big  stuff.  Every  yard 
that  deals  at  all  extensively  in  timbers  or  that  contemplates 
building  up  a  jobbing  business  should  investigate  the  various 
mechanical  helps  that  are  available. 

A  circular  crane  is  one  of  the  most  widely  used  aids  to 
timber  handling.  These  cranes  are  of  all  sizes  and  capaci- 
ties from  the  small,  hand  operated  affairs  with  a  lo-foot  arm 
up  to  the  electric  cranes  such  as  are  used  by  the  Thornton- 

79 


80 


RETAIL  LUMBER  SHEDS 


Claney  Lumber  Co.,  of  Chicago,  that  have  an  arm  reach  of 
more  than  80  feet  and  a  lifting  capacity  of  five  tons  at  the  end 
of  the  arm.  These  cranes  are  useful  in  an  open  yard.  In 
addition  to  handling  timber  they  may  be  used  to  lift  a  load 
from  a  loading  wagon  to  a  delivery  truck  or  for  other  heavy 
lifting. 

A  heavy  steel  track  with  a  carrier  and  chain  hoist  is 
equally  valuable  in  an  open  yard  and  in  a  timber  shed.    The 


TRUSS   POOF 

DRIVE 

OPEN  OR 

SEMI-OPEN  SIDES 

ELEVATED 

CARRIER    TRACK 

k       CK 

tk 

4 

4 

1 

CEMENT  SUPPORT 

FOUNDATIONS1 

PILING  SPACE    STOCK  PILED  • 

CROSS  WAYS 

OF  BUILDING 

DRIVE 

Suggestion  for   a  Timber  Shed 

Edwin  Taylor  Lumber  Co.,  of  Hartford,  Conn.,  has  such 
an  outfit  that  was  designed  and  built  by  the  Berlin  Construc- 
tion Co.,  of  Berlin,  Conn.,  a  concern  that  is  said  to  possess 
unusual  facilities  for  this  kind  of  construction.  The  Taylor 
people  are  very  well  pleased  with  the  service  their  equipment 
has  given.  They  have  two  tracks,  and  each  is  equipped  with 
two  carriers  and  chain  hoists. 

This  kind  of  equipment  may  be  used  in  a  timber  shed. 
The  shed  may  be  any  desired  length  and  wide  enough  to 
accommodate  the  longest  timbers  it  is  desired  to  store.  If 
there  is  any  great  variation  in  length  of  timbers,  as  usually 
happens  in  yards  handling  jobbing  trade,  there  should  be 
separate  storage  for  the  very  longest.  This  steel  track  would 


TIMBER  STORAGE  81 

run  the  long  way  of  the  shed  and  would  be  supported  by  the 
ironwork  shown  in  the  accompanying  drawing.  The  load- 
ing and  unloading  place  might  be  in  the  center  or  at  either 
end  of  the  shed  and  should  be  arranged  if  possible  so  that 
the  wagon  might  be  parallel  to  the  track,  tho  this  is  not  abso- 
lutely necessary.  The  piles  would  be  under  the  track  and  at 
right  angles  to  it.  Suppose  a  few  timbers  are  to  be  loaded. 
A  wagon  is  driven  into  the  shed  and  stopped  at  the  proper 
place.  The  carrier  is  run  by  hand  down  the  track  until  it 
is  over  the  pile.  A  timber  is  engaged  with  the  tackle  and 
raised  with  the  hoist  until  it  swings  free  from  the  pile.  It 
is  then  turned  parallel  to  the  track  so  that  it  will  clear  the 
supporting  posts  and  is  run  down  to  the  wagon  where  it  is 
lowered  into  place.  In  arranging  the  piles  the  long  timbers 
would  have  to  be  placed  next  the  posts  so  they  could  be  swung 
around  without  the  end  striking  the  neighboring  posts. 

If  the  business  is  not  large  enough  to  warrant  the  instal- 
lation of  this  handling  machinery  the  big  sticks  may  be  piled 
in  any  convenient  place,  as  was  said  before.  Most  yard 
foremen  prefer  to  have  the  wagon  along  the  side  of  the  tim- 
ber so  that  one  end  may  be  lifted  on  at  a  time  rather  than  to 
have  the  wagon  at  the  end  of  the  pile.  In  some  of  the  early 
sheds  the  heavy  sticks  were  piled  under  a  penthouse  at  the 
back  of  the  shed.  The  Jasper  Lumber  Co.,  of  Newton,  la., 
utilizes  a  peculiarly  good  place  in  its  big  warehouse.  There 
are  two  alleys  in  this  warehouse  with  a  short  alley  connect- 
ing them  near  the  rear  end.  Along  the  side  of  this  short  alley 
next  the  main  part  of  the  shed  is  a  storage  space  as  long  as 
the  width  of  the  two  center  rows  of  bins.  Timbers  are  laid 
on  suitable  bearings  along  here.  They  are  not  in  the  way, 


Timber  Alley,   Cross,  Austin  &  Ireland   Lumber  Co.,  Brooklyn,   N.  Y. 


/  CONCRETE   • 


. 
-  •••  ---- 


5'6" H 


Support  of  Timber  Track,  Taylor  Lumber  Co.,  Hartford,  Conn. 


84  RETAIL  LUMBER  SHEDS 

they  are  splendidly  shedded,  and  they  can  be  loaded  and 
unloaded  as  easily  and  conveniently  as  the  moving  of  timbers 
by  hand  ever  can  be  accomplished.  In  every  shed  some 
more  or  less  suitable  place  can  be  found  for  this  kind  of 
stock,  and  finding  it  must  be  the  work  of  the  person  who 
designs  the  yard. 


SPECIAL  MILLWORK  STORAGE 

Every  yard  not  equipped  with  a  complete  planing  mill 
must  order  much  special  interior  finish  from  mills  in  neigh- 
boring cities.  In  order  to  have  it  in  time  the  retailer  orders 
it  as  soon  as  possible.  It  may  arrive  several  weeks  before 
it  is  to  be  used.  If  some  special  storage  place  is  not  pro- 
vided for  this  kind  of  stock  it  stands  to  fare  badly.  It  must 
be  piled  in  with  some  other  stock  and  take  its  chances  of 
bruised  edges  and  swelled  joints.  Obviously  there  should 
be  some  place  for  storing  it  where  it  will  be  undisturbed  and 
where  dampness  can  be  excluded. 

It  has  happened  also  that  a  bill  calling  for  stock  stuff 
can  not  be  filled  because  of  depleted  stock,  altho  there  was 
plenty  at  the  time  the  bill  was  sold.  Perhaps  there  have 
been  unexpected  demands  for  that  stuff.  Then  when  the 
customer  comes  for  his  doors  or  sash  he  has  to  be  put  off 
until  a  shipment  can  be  gotten  in.  If  there  is  a  place  to  store 
such  stock  it  may  be  well  as  soon  as  a  bill  is  sold  to  pick  out 
enough  millwork  to  fill  it  and  to  pile  this  by  itself. 

The  newer  yards  make  provision  fo.r  such  a  room,  usually 
near  the  sash  and  door  room.  Sometimes  spaces  that  are 
useless  for  any  other  purpose  may  be  fitted  for  this  kind  of 
storage.  In  those  yards  where  an  open  shed  turns  a  corner 
there  is  quite  a  bit  of  room  in  the  corner  that  can  not  be  used 
for  bins  because  there  is  no  open  front.  The  C.  L.  Colman 
Lumber  Co.,  of  Albert  Lea,  Minn.,  uses  a  corner  of  this  kind 
for  storing  special  millwork  and  stock  stuff  that  has  been  sold 

85 


86  RETAIL  LUMBER  SHEDS 

but  not  delivered.  If  the  room  is  built  to  be  dust  and  mois- 
ture tight  it  will  do  fairly  well.  If  it  is  equipped  with  arti- 
ficial heating  apparatus  it  will  do  very  well.  And  if  the 
yard  men  can  be  trained  to  keep  the  door  shut  it  will  be  an 
ideal  place.  This  keeping  of  doors  closed  in  those  rooms 
where  finish  and  millwork  is  stored  is  a  prime  necessity. 


END-STORAGE  SHEDS 

End  storage  of  molding  is  generally  accepted  as  the  most 
satisfactory  way  of  carrying  this  stock  where  the  sheds  are 
of  such  shape  and  design  that  there  is  room  for  the  racks. 
But  there  is  no  such  uniformity  of  opinion  in  regard  to  car- 
rying a  general  retail  stock  in  this  manner.  A  number  of 
sheds  of  this  type  have  been  built  and  according  to  the  state- 
ments of  the  owners  have  given  good  satisfaction.  But  they 
seem  not  to  be  coming  into  general  use  with  any  rapidity. 

There  are  certain  advantages  claimed  for  this  type  of 
shed.  In  the  first  place  it  can  be  built  with  less  material, 
tho  the  frame  has  to 'be  strong  to  carry  the  weight  of  the 
leaning  lumber.  Alleys  may  be  narrower  because  of  the 
fact  that  stock  is  dropped  down  onto  the  load  instead  of 
being  pulled  out  and  turned.  In  fact  the  piles  can  be  ex- 
tended into  the  alley  simply  by  continuing  to  lay  stock  against 
the  pile.  The  size  of  the  bins  may  be  varied  to  suit  personal 
preference.  Those  in  one  of  the  earliest  sheds  were  made 
9  feet  wide  and  8  feet  deep  from  front  to  back.  Others  are 
made  12  feet  wide  and  16  feet  in  depth.  A  greater  amount 
of  stock  can  be  piled  in  a  given  space.  Some  lumbermen 
estimate  the  increased  capacity  at  as  much  as  30  percent. 
Lumber  will  dry  more  quickly  because  of  the  fact  that  mois- 
ture follows  the  grain  to  the  lower  end  of  the  stick.  In  cer- 
tain sawmills  in  the  East  hardwoods  direct  from  the  saw  are 
put  in  end-storage  sheds.  It  is  possible  to  stick  this  lumber 
tho  this  requires  the  use  of  a  ladder.  The  stock  keeps  clean, 

87 


88 


RETAIL  LUMBER  SHEDS 


for  when  new  stock  is  put  in  or  old  taken  out  the  jarring 
causes  the  dust  to  fall  to  the  floor.  It  is  claimed  that  less 
labor  is  required  to  handle  lumber  in  this  type  of  bin.  These 
are  some  of  the  things  claimed  for  end  storage. 

The  end-storage  shed  has  certain  disadvantages.  Piling 
heavy  lumber  on  end  is  hard  work;  so  hard  in  fact  that  the 
large  stuff,  such  as  framing  lumber,  is  better  piled  flat.  In- 


Suggested  Framing  for  an  End-Storage  Shed 

voicing  is  not  easy,  as  it  is  necessary  to  climb  on  top  of  the 
pile  to  count  the  pieces.  The  appearance  of  such  a  shed  is 
never  as  good  as  that  of  a  shed  in  which  the  stock  is  laid  flat. 
The  boards  leaning  back  against  the  wall  have  the  appear- 
ance of  being  out  of  place.  Some  retailers  object  to  this 
method  of  storage  because  it  shows  up  the  defects  of  low 
grade  stock  so  plainly. 

Floors  under  the  piles  must  be  strong,  for  the  weight  of 
the  stock  is  carried  on  the  floor  instead  of  directly  on  the 
bearings.  In  some  sheds  the  floor  is  raised  enough  next  to 
the  alley  so  that  the  stock  when  leaned  back  in  place  will  be 
perpendicular  to  the  floor.  Stock  is  usually  piled  with  a 


END-STORAGE  SHEDS  89 

slant  of  one  inch  off  vertical  to  the  floor.  For  example,  if  a 
vertical  line  were  dropped  from  the  top  of  an  1 8-foot  board 
it  would  miss  the  lower  end  of  the  board  by  18  inches.  It 
is  possible  to  divide  the  stock  in  a  bin  into  two  divisions  and 
to  use  out  of  one  division  until  it  is  gone  and  then  out  of  the 
other,  thus  preventing  the  accumulation  of  old  stock  at  the 
back. 


FIRE  RISK  REDUCTION 

All  lumbermen  recognize  the  fact  that  fire  risk  is  present 
wherever  lumber  is  stored.  But  experience  has  shown  that 
with  care  exercised  in  construction  and  location  and  in  the 
installation  of  heating  and  lighting  apparatus  this  risk  may 
be  much  reduced.  A  list  of  fire  losses  suffered  by  one  insur- 
ance company  and  tabulated  according  to  causes  will  indicate 
the  sources  of  danger.  This  list  is  taken  from  "The  Wood- 
worker," a  booklet  published  by  the  Mutual  Lumber  Insur- 
ing Companies. 

Percentage  of  Total 

Heating  Apparatus  1.76 

Lighting  Apparatus 2.08 

Smoking   2.25 

Sparks  and  Coals,  R.  R.  Stack,  Burner 14.80 

Lightning   1 45 

Spontaneous  Combustion 32 

Miscellaneous 3.54 

Exposure 24.28 

Incendiary 14.3 1 

Unknown 35-21 

It  will  be  seen  from  this  list  that  of  the  known  causes 
sparks,  exposure  and  incendiary  are  the  largest,  and  that 
unknown  causes  produced  the  largest  number  of  all.  It  is 
reasonable  to  suppose  that  at  least  some  of  the  fires  credited 
to  unknown  causes  were  set  by  human  hands.  So  on  the 
score  of  prevention  the  first  two  things  to  be  considered  are 
isolation  and  inclosure. 

90 


FIRE  RISK  REDUCTIQN  91 

It  is  said  by  experts  that  three-fourths  of  the  incendiary 
fires  could  be  prevented,  and  one  of  the  most  effective  pre- 
ventives is  a  high,  tight  fence  surrounding  the  yard.  In 
speaking  of  fires  of  incendiary  origin  The  Woodworker 
makes  the  following  statement:  "Boys  who  want  to  see  the 
fire  department  in  action;  thieves  who  want  to  get  a  crowd 
on  which  to  act  or  to  leave  them  free  to  steal  elsewhere,  or 
to  conceal  theft  from  the  plant;  drunkenness,  craziness,  mis- 
chievousness  and  general  cussedness  are  the  causes  of  most 
of  these  fires."  To  this  list  must  be  added  the  activities  of 
the  ubiquitous  bum.  Tramps  are  not  always  malicious,  but 
neither  are  they  careful;  and  the  ashes  from  a  pipe  may 
send  thousands  of  dollars'  worth  of  stock  and  storage  equip- 
ment up  in  smoke.  About  60  percent  of  fires  occur  at  night 
or  on  holidays.  Some  of  these  are  caused  by  spontaneous 
combustion  or  by  faulty  wiring  or  similar  causes.  But  the 
owner  can  feel  that  his  yard  is  much  more  secure  from  fire 
if  it  is  secure  from  entry  than  he  can  if  the  place  is  open  to 
any  casual  Weary  Willy  who  may  happen  along. 

If  possible  sheds  should  be  set  far  enough  inside  the  lot 
so  that  heat  from  the  nearest  neighboring  building,  should  it 
burn,  will  not  ignite  them.  This  distance  is  considered  to 
be  about  100  feet  for  a  wooden  building.  But  in  many  cases 
limited  areas  and  high  valuation  of  real  estate  will  not  permit 
this.  If  a  yard  can  be  located  on  a  tract  of  ground  entirely 
surrounded  by  streets  it  may  be  considered  reasonably  free 
from  the  hazard  of  exposure.  But  this,  also,  is  not  always 
possible.  Where  a  shed  must  be  placed  close  to  a  building 
on  an  adjoining  lot  it  is  wise  to  build  a  fire  wall  extending  as 
high  as  or  higher  than  the  roof.  In  erecting  long  sheds  it  is 


92  RETAIL  LUMBER  SHEDS 

advisable  to  divide  them  with  fire  walls  and  self-closing  fire 
doors. 

Badly  planned  structures  are  no  more  fruitful  sources  of 
loss  than  are  carelessness  and  litter.  One  insurance  expert 
says  the  chief  objection  to  horse  stables  in  the  yard  is  the 
carelessness  of  the  men  in  handling  kerosene  lanterns  and  in 
allowing  litter  to  accumulate.  A  clean  yard,  other  things 
being  equal,  is  much  safer  than  a  dirty  one.  A  shed  with 
wide  alleys  is  safer  than  one  with  narrow  alleys.  The  prohi- 
bition of  smoking  will  prevent  some  fires.  A  good  many 
yards  that  are  large  in  size  or  that  are  peculiarly  exposed  to 
danger  can  scarcely  afford  not  to  have  a  watchman.  If  a 
watchman  discovers  a  blaze  that  is  just  starting  and  if  he  is 
provided  with  handy  fire-fighting  apparatus  he  can  extin- 
guish it  easily.  If  it  is  left  to  be  discovered  by  the  public  at 
large  the  fire  may  easily  be  beyond  the  power  of  the  best  of 
fire  departments. 

Stoves  and  kerosene  lamps  are  considered  dangerous. 
The  former,  if  used,  should  be  placed  on  a  metal  floor  pro- 
tection extending  several  feet  on  each  side  of  the  stove,  and 
it  should  be  surrounded  by  a  stout  iron  fence.  Chimneys 
should  be  built  from  the  ground  up  and  be  provided  with 
metal  ash  cans.  It  is  better  to  have  the  stove  pipe  enter  the 
chimney  in  the  same  room  where  the  stove  is  located.  Fur- 
naces should  be  installed  with  the  same  care  as  stoves.  Steam 
pipes  have  caused  fires  as  far  as  300  feet  from  the  boilers, 
so  care  should  be  used  to  see  that  they  are  kept  clear  of  rub- 
bish or  other  combustibles.  They  should  not  extend  thru 
hollow  walls  or  floors  without  being  protected  by  metal 
jackets  that  leave  a  two-inch  clear  air  space  around  them. 


FIRE  RISK  REDUCTION  93 

0 

Rats  and  mice  building  nests  near  these  warm  pipes  have 
laid  the  kindling  for  a  good  many  fires. 

Electric  wiring  should  be  done  by  competent  and  honest 
electricians.  It  is  well  to  have  a  cut-off  switch  near  the  door 
so  that  the  current  can  be  kept  out  of  the  building  when  not 
needed.  Heavy  charges  from  trolley  or  power  lines  have 
been  known  to  enter  buildings  without  causing  fuses  to  melt 
and  have  caused  serious  fires.  Gas  and  electricity  should 
not  be  used  in  the  same  room.  If  gas  is  used  there  should  be 
a  valve  installed  at  a  safe  distance  from  the  buildings  so  that 
in  case  of  fire  it  may  be  closed. 

The  Woodworker  has  this  to  say  about  a  garage  in  a 
lumber  yard:  "If  it  is  desired  to  keep  and  care  for  a  car  on 
the  premises,  a  brick  building  with  a  cement  floor  is  pre- 
ferred, heat  to  be  steam  or  hot  water,  generator  to  be  in  a  cut 
off  room  without  opening  to  garage ;  light  to  be  incandescent ' 
electricity,  keyless  vapor  proof  lights,  portable  cord,  con- 
trolled by  switch  outside  of  room.  Gasolene  to  be  kept  in 
underground  tank  with  outside  pump,  one  raised  self-closing 
metal  waste  can,  pyrene  fire  extinguisher,  faucet  and  hose, 
and  permit  in  the  insurance  policies." 

Fire  fighting  apparatus  can  never  take  the  place  of  fire 
prevention,  but  it  is  necessary  and  valuable.  In  the  first 
place  if  it  be  at  all  possible  the  owner  should  assure  himself 
of  the  protection  of  the  city  fire  department.  Hydrants 
should  be  located  near  enough  to  be  effective;  certainly  not 
more  than  300  feet  distant.  Hydrants  should  be  connected 
with  street  mains  not  smaller  than  six  inches  in  diameter,  or 
if  they  are  on  dead-ends  these  should  be  at  least  eight  inches 
in  diameter. 


94  RETAIL  LUMBER  SHEDS 

In  addition,  to  public  protection  each  yard  should  have 
some  appliances  of  its  own.  The  basis  of  this  private  appa- 
ratus is  a  pail  filled  with  water  or  with  a  solution  of  chloride 
of  calcium.  More  small  fires  have  been  extinguished  by- 
water  thrown  from  pails  than  by  all  other  means  combined. 
The  solution  of  chloride  of  calcium  does  not  freeze,  corrode, 
evaporate  or  get  foul.  If  it  is  used  in  wooden  buckets  or 
casks  these  must  be  painted  or  varnished  on  the  inside.  Gran- 
ulated calcium  dissolves  easily  and  is  said  not  to  be  costly. 
Three  pounds  to  the  gallon  is  the  proportion  usually  recom- 
mended. Fire  insurance  experts  recommend  that  a  cask 
painted  red  and  stenciled,  "For  Fire  Only,"  filled  with  water 
or  the  calcium  solution  and  equipped  with  two  fire  pails  be 
placed  100  feet  apart  in  lumber  yards. 

Chemical  extinguishers  are  approved  by  insurance  com- 
panies, but  it  must  be  remembered  that  most  of  these  will 
freeze  in  cold  weather  and  so  must  be  placed  in  warmed 
rooms  in  winter.  Pyrene  is  recommended  for  use  around 
motors  and  in  paint  rooms.  A  pail  of  sand  is  useful  in  the 
latter  place.  The  use  of  automatic  sprinklers  and  steam 
jets  is  recommended  for  certain  places.  Steam  is  valuable 
in  small,  inclosed  rooms,  and  in  such  places  it  puts  out  fires 
by  covering  them  and  excluding  the  air. 

It  is  well  both  for  the  purpose  of  decreasing  the  fire  risk 
and  of  avoiding  loss  of  stock  and  equipment  to  make  careful 
inspection  of  the  entire  yard  at  frequent  intervals.  This 
will  show  the  accumulation  of  trash,  breaks  in  the  fence  or 
sheds  and  other  conditions  that  increase  the  danger  of  fire. 
Such  inspections  will  show  stock  that  is  poorly  piled  or  that 
is  exposed  to  the  infection  of  dry  rot.  This  is  a  case  where 
a  stitch  in  time  saves  more  than  nine. 


A  HOODED  OPEN  SHED 

Sheds  intended  for  the  storing  of  lumber  fall  into  two 
general  classes,  tho  there  are  a  great  number  of  modifica- 
tions followed  in  the  designing  of  individual  buildings. 
These  two  classes  are  the  open  shed  consisting  of  roof,  ends 
and  rear  side  with  the  front  open,  and  the  inclosed  shed  with 
one  or  more  driveways  extending  thru  it.  In  the  following 
pages  will  be  shown  examples  of  these  two  general  styles. 
Included  will  be  a  number  of  modifications.  It  is  hoped 
that  the  designs  will  be  of  assistance  to  prospective  builders 
in  two  ways;  in  furnishing  plans  that  may  be  followed  with 
few  if  any  changes,  and  in  suggesting  possibilities  for  new 
and  different  plans  suited  to  individual  needs. 

Few  if  any  sheds  of  the  true  open  design  are  used  for  the 
storage  of  lumber.  Retailers  have  found  that  the  addition 
of  a  hood  costs  little  and  adds  immensely  to  the  value  of  the 
building.  So  general  is  the  practice  of  adding  this  hood 
that  the  term  "open  shed"  is  commonly  understood  to  mean 
a  hooded  open  shed.  This  was  one  of  the  first  styles  of  sheds 
to  become  popular,  and  its  worth  is  still  testified  to  by  the 
hundreds  of  open  sheds  new  and  old  that  are  giving  satisfac- 
tory service.  There  is  little  or  no  trouble  about  ventilation; 
the  framing  of  the  structure  is  so  simple  that  an  amateur  car- 
penter can  achieve  satisfactory  results  in  building  it,  and 
the  initial  investment,  due  to  the  simplicity  and  lightness  of 
the  frame,  is  not  prohibitive.  Care  should  be  taken  to  locate 
the  shed  on  ground  where  the  drainage  is  good  and  to  raise 

95 


96 


RETAIL  LUMBER  SHEDS 


the  piles  far  enough  above  ground  to  provide  for  ventilation 
under  the  pile  and  to  guard  against  the  infection  of  dry  rot. 
The  shed,  of  which  the  end  elevation  is  shown  here,  is 
intended  for  the  storage  of  lumber  no  longer  than  16  feet. 
But  it  would  be  a  simple  matter  to  change  the  design  or  to 


End   Elevation   of    an   Open   Shed 

arrange  at  one  end  for  bearings  extending  further  to  the  front 
if  it  is  desired  to  store  longer  lengths.  The  hood  extends 
eight  feet  beyond  the  ends  of  the  piles,  and  this  would  allow 
the  piles  to  extend  further  to  the  front  and  still  be  sheltered 
fairly  well.  The  ends  are  sided  out  to  a  point  even  with  the 
outer  edge  of  the  hood.  The  gallery  in  front  of  the  second 
deck  would  be  better  if  laid  without  open  spaces  between 
the  flooring  boards.  Since  the  guard  rail,  attached  to  the 
diagonal  brace,  is  further  out  than  the  outer  edge  of  the  walk 


A  HOODED  OPEN  SHED  97 

• 

it  would  be  well  to  extend  the  walk  or  to  add  a  toe  board  to 
the  outer  edge.  The  rear  of  the  shed  may  be  sided  solid  or 
else  with  corn  cribbing  spaced  an  inch  apart  for  ventilation. 
The  design  indicates  a  ladder  to  be  hinged  to  the  gallery 
floor.  This  can  be  drawn  up  by  rope,  pulley  and  counter 
weight,  the  latter  working  up  and  down  in  a  conducting  box 
made  of  1x4  stuff.  It  is  well  to  provide  eave  spouting  of 
some  kind  for  this  type  of  shed,  especially  for  the  hood. 
Otherwise  the  rain  runs  down  in  the  drive  along  the  front  and 
increases  the  mud  at  the  very  place  where  it  should  be 
avoided. 


AN  UNUSUAL  OPEN  SHED 

The  Pratt  Lumber  Co.,  of  Binghamton,  N.  Y.,  has  an 
open  shed,  a  cross  section  of  which  is  shown  herewith.  This 
shed  is  unusual  in  having  a  hood  wide  enough  to  cover  the 
driveway  in  front  and  also  to  extend  part  way  over  the  rail- 
road siding  which  runs  parallel  to  the  driveway.  This 
makes  it  possible  to  unload  cars  on  a  rainy  day  without  get- 
ting stock  or  men  wet.  The  long  distance  of  the  railroad 
track  from  the  bins  makes  necessary  the  use  of  gravity  un- 
loaders. 

The  bins  are  18  feet  in  depth,  and  the  drive,  between  the 
outside  supporting  post  and  the  post  supporting  the  center 
of  the  roof,  is  14  feet  in  width.  This  allows  for  certain  piles 
of  long  stuff  to  project  a  little  way  into  the  drive  and  still 
leave  ample  room  for  wagons  to  pass.  The  front  posts,  those 
next  the  railway  track,  rest  on  piers.  The  posts  in  the  back 
part  of  the  shed  where  the  lumber  rests  are  set  on  the  foun- 
dations which  form  the  bearings  for  the  piles.  There  are 
five  rows  of  these  bearings.  The  middle  and  the  outside 
posts  that  rest  on  these  foundations  extend  up  to  the  roof ;  the 
second  and  fourth  extend  no  higher  than  the  second  deck 
and  give  to  this  upper  deck  the  same  number  of  bearings 
that  the  lower  deck  has.  These  five  supporting  posts  in  the 
rear  of  the  shed  are  4x6's.  The  one  in  front  is  a  6x6.  These 
front  posts  next  to  the  railroad  siding  are  put  in  at  intervals 
of  1 8  feet;  but  the  supporting  posts  and  braces  in  the  storage 
side  of  the  shed  are  put  in  at  intervals  of  six  feet,  thus  making 

98 


AN  UNUSUAL  OPEN  SHED 


99 


the  bins  six  feet  wide.  The  supporting  timbers  under  the 
piles  both  in  the  upper  and  lower  decks  are  4x6*8  laid  on  edge. 
The  braces  from  the  center  post  of  the  storage  part  to  the 
outside  posts  are  4x4*8  and  are  so  located  as  to  hold  and  stiffen 
all  five  of  the  supports  of  the  upper  deck.  The  long  braces 
from  the  center  post  of  the  shed  to  the  hood  roof  near  the 


End  Elevation  of  Open  Shed,  Pratt  Lumber  Co.,  Binghamton,  N.  Y. 

outside  post  next  the  railroad  track  are  2x6's  and  occur  every 
eighteen  feet.  The  rafters  are  ax6's  and  are  two  feet  apart 
on  center.  The  plates  on  which  these  rafters  rest  and  that  are 
placed  on  the  tops  of  the  three  posts  in  the  rear  of  the  shed 
are  4x4*3;  but  the  one  under  the  front  of  the  hood  is  a  3x10. 
From  each  side  of  each  front  post  and  extending  up  to  this 
plate  are  braces  made  from  sticks  measuring  3x4  inches. 
The  second  deck  extends  out  to  form  a  platform  along  the 
front.  These,  I  think,  are  the  most  important  measurements, 
and  a  study  of  the  accompanying  cut  will  make  them  clearer 
than  a  description  can  be. 


100  RETAIL  LUMBER  SHEDS 

In  following  this  plan  it  would  of  course  be  possible  to 
make  the  shed  of  any  desired  length.  In  fact  length  makes 
small  difference  in  the  planning  or  construction.  The  Pratt 
shed  is  peculiar  in  that  the  railroad  siding  along  the  front 
curves  away  at  one  end,  and  the  f  rontof  the  shed  curves  out 
to  follow  it  while  the  back  runs  straight.  So  at  this  end  the 
bins  are  much  deeper  and  are  used  much  like  an  open  storage 
yard.  Piles  are  put  around  where  they  are  convenient. 
There  are  twenty-eight  bins  6  feet  wide,  ten  bins  8  feet  wide, 
and  nine  bins  14  feet  wide.  These  14-foot  bins  are  in  front 
of  the  curve  in  the  track  and  have  neither  piers  nor  bearings. 
This  curve  shows  the  adaptability  of  the  plan.  Indeed  it 
could  easily  be  changed  in  other  particulars  besides  making 
it  follow  the  crooks  of  a  siding.  It  could  be  built  of  timbers 
of  other  sizes. 


A  MODERATE  COST  SHED 

The  two  cuts  shown  on  the  next  page  are  of  a  combina- 
tion of  shed,  wareroom  and  office.  The  building  is  easily 
erected,  and  the  cost  is  moderate.  Lumbermen  beginning  in 
a  modest  way  or  on  rented  ground  where  the  building  of  an 
expensive  shed  would  not  be  warranted  will  find  this  plan 
worth  considering.  The  shed  may  be  continued  to  any  de- 
sired length  and  used  beyond  the  office  in  the  same  manner 
as  an  umbrella  or  double  shed.  It  has  no  second  deck,  and 
the  posts  measure  only  eight  feet.  They  could  be  made 
somewhat  longer  if  desired.  The  absence  of  a  second  deck 
makes  it  possible  to  use  lighter  framing  material. 


101 


102  RETAIL  LUMBER  SHEDS 


End  Elevation 


c 

"ZI 

[tU\xU\tuja 
14X10' 

SasK  Bud  Doors 
M'xfco* 

3 

Ojjic* 

14UO' 

\ 

lumber 

itied 

lf-jf 

S'-O" 

9'-0" 

9:0" 

9'-0" 

5' 

Partial   Ground   Plan 


A  SEMI-INCLOSED  SHED 

On  the  next  page  is  shown  a  cross  section  of  a  so-called 
semi-inclosed  shed.  This  type  of  shed  follows  the  general 
plan  of  a  hooded  open  shed;  but  added  to  that  plan  are  slid- 
ing doors  that  close  the  top  or  the  bottom  deck.  In  some 
sheds  both  decks  are  closed  in  this  manner.  The  doors  are 
hung  on  two  tracks  so  that  they  will  slide  past  each  other. 
This  design  is  of  a  building  20  feet  wide  on  the  ground  line 
and  1 8  feet  high.  In  constructing  this  type  of  shed  it  is  well 
to  build  separate  foundations  for  the  shed  and  for  the  lower 
deck.  Such  a  shed  must  carry  a  heavy  load;  and  yet  the 
tendency  is  to  skimp  on  the  foundation  because  it  is  not  a 
large  building. 

The  usefulness  of  this  type  of  shed  is  indicated  by  the 
great  number  to  be  found  in  the  lumber  yards  of  the  United 
States.  In  small  yards  where  the  volume  of  trade  is  not 
thought  to  be  large  enough  to  warrant  a  heavy  investment  in 
equipment  this  kind  of  shed  will  afford  adequate  protection 
to  millwork  and  finish  lumber. 


103  / 


104 


RETAIL  LUMBER  SHEDS 


Upper  Deck  Inclosed 


A  DOUBLE  OR  UMBRELLA  SHED 

The  double  or  umbrella  type  of  shed  is  a  modification 
of  the  open  shed  that  finds  favor  in  a  good  many  places. 
The  same  advantages  can  be  claimed  for  it  as  for  its  original 
type.  On  the  next  page  is  shown  the  cross  section  of  an 
umbrella  shed  designed  and  extensively  used  by  the  Long- 
Bell  Lumber  Co.  Some  of  the  specifications  made  by  this 
company  are  given  below. 

It  is  directed  that  the  walls  and  piers  should  be  at  least 
1 8  inches  wide  at  the  bottom  and  reduced  to  12  inches  at  the 
top ;  should  be  6  inches  above  grade  at  the  highest  point  and 
should  extend  below  grade  to  a  sufficient  depth  to  insure 
against  being  displaced  by  frost. 

The  following  directions  are  given  the  carpenters  erect- 
ing the  shed.  Place  2x4  on  top  of  the  foundation,  spacing  4 
feet,  6-inch  centers ;  rest  the  posts  on  these,  spiking  to  each 
side  a  2x6  at  the  bottom  and  center,  and  at  the  top  use  a  2x4 
plate;  tie  the  posts  together  at  the  center  and  top  with  2x4; 
at  the  center  use  a  2x6  fastened  to  the  first  and  second  posts 
extending  past  the  front  of  the  shed  to  form  a  support  for 
the  walk.  Nail  all  ties  to  each  post. 

Space  the  rafters  2  feet  centers;  toenail  to  the  plates  and 
spike  to  the  upper  ties;  cut  braces  of  2x4  and  fasten  them  to 
the  outer  ends  of  the  first,  third,  fifth  and  so  on  of  the  2x6. 
To  support  the  rafters  for  the  hood  use  2x4  plates  on  these 
supports  notched  into  the  supports  or  doubled,  toenailing  the 
rafters  for  the  hood  to  this  plate,  and  spike  to  the  main 
rafters. 

105 


106 


RETAIL  LUMBER  SHEDS 


Cut  the  cross  pieces  underneath  the  upper  bearings  from 
post  to  post  diagonally  across  the  shed  beginning  at  the  corner 
and  center.  These  should  be  put  in  closely  and  well  spiked 
to  prevent  the  shed  from  leaning  endwise;  also  brace  on  the 
two/ rows  of  long  posts  1x6  braces.  Also  brace  with  2x4 


Showing  Part  of  End  Elevation 

from  the  lower  to  the  upper  deck,  these  to  be  flush  with  the 
posts,  closely  fitted  and  well  nailed  at  bottom  and  top. 

Make  the  walks  of  2x8,  fastened  to  2x6  supports.  Access 
to  the  walk  may  be  provided  by  ladders  at  either  or  both 
ends,  fastened  to  the  ends  of  the  shed,  or  by  light  ladders 
provided  for  this  purpose. 

PLAN  OF  A  DOUBLE  SHED 

The  accompanying  end  elevation  of  a  double  or  umbrella 
shed  is  self  explanatory.  Bins  are  9  feet  wide  and  permit 


A  DOUBLE  OR  UMBRELLA  SHED    107 

of  a  division  of  the  pile  so  that  sales  may  be  made  out  of  one 
side  until  it  is  exhausted,  thus  preventing  the  accumulation 
of  old  stock  at  the  bottom  of  the  bins.  Following  is  the 
lumber  bill  for  ten  bins,  or  a  shed  99  feet  long: 


Showing  Half  of  the   End  Elevation 

4  pieces  4x4 — 16,  oak. 

24  pieces  4x4 — 18,  braces. 

24  pieces  4x4 — 1 8,  uprights. 

24  pieces  4x4 — 20,  uprights. 

36  pieces  4x4 — 22,  uprights. 

84  pieces  2x4 — 8,  supports  for  upper  piling  joists. 

77  pieces  4x4 — 9,  supports  for  upper  piling  joists. 


108  RETAIL  LUMBER  SHEDS 

1 100  feet  lineal  2x4,  diagonal  braces. 
300  feet  lineal  2x12,  9-  or  1 8-foot  lengths,  top  stone  wall. 
400  feet  lineal  2x6,  9-  or  1 8-foot  lengths,  top  stone  wall. 
800  feet  lineal  2x6,  9-  or  1 8-foot  lengths,  walk. 
200  feet  lineal  2x4,  9-  or  1 8-foot  lengths,  railing. 
700  feet  lineal,  2x8,  9-  or  1 8-foot  lengths,  piling  joist. 
2100  feet  lineal  2x6,  9-  or  i8-foot  lengths,  nail  ties. 
26  pieces  2x6 — 16,  cross  ties  at  bottom. 
24  pieces  2x6 — 18,  cross  ties  at  center. 
48  pieces  1x6 — 10,  cross  ties  at  top. 
24  pieces  2x6 — 10,  hood  rafters. 
24  pieces  2x6 — 16,  support  to  roof  nail  ties. 
5850  feet  shiplap. 

22  pieces  1x6 — 12,  longitudinal  bracing 
2400  feet  drop  siding. 
4  ladders. 

16  pieces  1x4 — 14  545,  ladder  weight  conductors. 
30  feet  lineal  1x8,  gutter  strips. 
8  hinges  for  ladders. 
8  pulleys. 
200  feet  sash  cord. 
150  pounds  nails,  2d. 
200  pounds  nails,  lod. 
50  pounds  nails,  8d. 


AN  EASILY  FRAMED  SHED 

The  accompanying  cross  section  plan  of  a  shed  built  by 
the  Kalamazoo  Lumber  Co.,  Kalamazoo,  Mich.,  is  presented 
as  a  suggestion  to  any  retailer  desiring  to  find  an  easily  framed 
and  satisfactory  single-alley  shed.  The  dimensions  are 
fairly  satisfactory  and  could  be  varied  slightly  without  doing 
material  damage  to  the  plan.  A  somewhat  wider  alley 
would  be  desirable  in  most  cases.  But  the  plan  as  it  stands 
would  yield  a  very  good  shed  if  it  were  put  on  solid  founda- 
tions and  thoroly  ventilated.  For  this  latter  purpose  gal- 
vanized iron  cupolas  on  the  comb  and  vents  low  in  the  outside 
walls  would  be  satisfactory.  As  in  most  similar  plans  the 
length  may  be  made  to  suit  individual  needs. 


n  n  n  n  n 


//9"Ceaferj 


A 

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Part   of   the   End   Elevation 

109 


110 


RETAIL  LUMBER  SHEDS 


\ X 

HEAP 
ENTRANCE 


PROPERTY 


PILING    SPACE 
FOR      SHINGLES 


OI5PLAY 
15' 


MOULDING 
RACK  i?'*24 


' 


^r 
_  \  OFFICE 

off/c 


CAPACITY  OF 


FRONT 
ENTRANCE 


TWO  STORY  5HED  FOR  LUMBER 
20'X90 


PILING    SPACE 
FOR  POSTS 


!5 

BARN  t 

OF 
VED5 
70  FT. 

I 

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LIME 
CEMENT 

1 

ll 

&WSWP 
16x24 

1 

I 

PILING  S 
FOR  BRIC 

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U      TEAMS 

STREET 
Ground   Plan,   Harris-Bryant   Lumber    Co.,    Sulphur    Springs,    Texas 


A  PROGRESSIVE  COUNTRY  YARD 

Claude  W.  Bryant,  manager  of  the  Harris-Bryant  Lum- 
ber Co.,  of  Sulphur  Springs,  Tex.,  insists  on  calling  his 
establishment  a  "country  yard."  A  glance  at  the  accom- 
panying drawing  will  indicate  that  there  is  no  reason  why 
a  country  yard  can  not  be  as  well  arranged  and  as  convenient 
and  up  to  date  as  any  yard. 

Special  attention  is  called  to  the  display  room  with  its 
plate  glass  show  window.  This  yard  is  located  close  to  the 
center  of  town  and  on  a  prominent  street.  The  show  win- 
dow has  done  good  advertising  service,  and  the  display  room 
has  proved  itself  an  effective  sales  help. 

The  open  shed  has  proved  popular  in  the  South.  The 
arrangement  of  the  yard,  while  simple,  shows  careful  plan- 
ning. The  space  has  been  well  utilized  without  cramping. 
One  notable  feature  is  the  watering  trough  and  feeding  space 
in  one  corner.  The  utility  of  these  things  depends  entirely 
on  the  habits  of  the  community  and  the  facilities  which  the 
town  affords.  Under  certain  circumstances  they  are  the  best 
possible  advertising. 


111 


'  1 


HAWHS- BRYANT  LUHSIft  CO- 


Office,  Harris-Bryant  Lumber  Co.,  Sulphur  Springs,  Tex. 


A  MODIFIED  DOUBLE-ALLEY  SHED      113 


Ground  Plan,  Hawkeye  Lumber  Co.,  Centerville,  Iowa 


A  MODIFIED  DOUBLE-ALLEY  SHED 

This  shed  is  built  according  to  a  general  plan  that  is 
popular  in  certain  parts  of  the  middle  West.  It  is  the  same 
as  a  double-alley  shed  except  that  one  of  the  outside  rows  of 
bins  is  omitted.  The  Hawkeye  shed  is  built  with  a  front 
such  as  would  be  used  with  the  ordinary  type  of  double-alley 
shed,  and  the  space  that  would  otherwise  be  occupied  by  the 
outside  row  of  bins  is  used  for  piling  posts,  wire  fencing 
and  the  like.  This  side  is  on  the  east,  and  the  driveway  is 
covered  with  a  wide  hood.  Winter  storms  in  this  climate 
usually  come  from  the  Northwest,  so  for  the  purposes  of 
shelter  the  shed  does  about  as  well  as  tho  it  were  entirely 
inclosed. 

The  front  of  the  building  is  covered  with  stucco,  has  the 
company's  name  in  a  tasteful  and  striking  sign  and  is  illu- 
minated at  night  by  an  electric  light  and  reflector  located  on 
a  building  across  the  street.  The  shed  measures  100  by  200 
feet  on  the  ground,  is  24  feet  high  in  the  center  and  16  feet 
high  at  the  eaves.  The  west  row  of  bins  is  16  feet  6  inches  in 
depth,  the  west  alley  is  26  feet  wide,  the  double  row  of  bins 
36  feet  wide  and  the  east  alley  22  feet  wide  over  all.  The 
office  in  the  northwest  corner  of  the  shed  measures  24  by  22 
feet  and  gets  its  extra  width  by  extending  out  into  the  alley 
five  or  six  feet.  The  private  office  has  one  door  opening  into 
the  lobby  and  another  behind  the  order  counter.  The  man- 
ager has  his  desk  behind  the  counter  and  in  front  of  a  window 
looking  out  into  the  alley.  On  account  of  the  extension  of 

114 


MODIFIED  DOUBLE- ALLEY  SHED        115 

the  office  into  the  alley  he  can  see  the  full  length  of  the  shed. 

All  the  tight  storage  rooms  are  near  the  office,  and  this 
part  of  the  alley  is  paved  with  cement.  Next  the  office  are 
the  stock  rooms  for  windows  and  doors.  On  the  opposite 
side  of  this  alley  is  the  show  window,  measuring  8  by  10, 
and  next  to  this  window  and  serving  as  an  entrance  to  it  is  a 
display  room  for  glass  doors.  In  the  rear  of  this  room  and 
window  are  the  storage  spaces  for  roofing,  molding,  case  and 
base  and  a  separate  room  for  special  millwork.  Flooring  is 
kept  in  a  room  above  the  office,  and  this  room  is  heated  by 
hot  water  coils  attached  to  the  office  furnace.  The  molding 
room  is  of  the  pigeon  hole  type  and  is  arranged  with  a  door 
opening  into  the  rear  of  the  molding  case,  so  that  the  short 
pieces  that  work  back  can  be  gotten  out.  This  rack  and  in 
fact  the  whole  yard  is  equipped  with  little  brass  card  holders 
into  which  can  be  slipped  cards  with  sizes  and  grades  type- 
written on  them. 

The  foundations  of  the  shed  and  of  the  lower  deck  bear- 
ings were  made  separately.  In  this  shed  is  used  a  wooden 
upper  bearing  mentioned  elsewhere  in  this  book.  On  top 
of  the  foundation  bearing  of  solid  cement  is  placed  an  upper 
bearing  made  of  two  2X4's  connected  by  short  pieces  of  2x4 
spiked  in  like  the  spindles  of  a  stair  rail.  This  upper  bearing 
can  be  taken  out  easily  for  cleaning  or  repair. 

Two  pilot  lights  are  used  in  the  office,  one  on  the  warm- 
room  circuit  and  the  other  on  the  basement  circuit.  These 
pilot  lights  are  located  in  a  conspicuous  place  and  serve  to 
remind  the  person  in  charge  if  these  circuits  are  left 
switched  on. 

Special  efforts  are  made  to  keep  this  place  looking  clean 


116  RETAIL  LUMBER  SHEDS 

and  well  kept.  One  notable  thing  is  the  fact  that  at  the  rear 
of  the  shed,  the  place  that  usually  attracts  broken  down 
wagons  and  rotting  barrels,  there  are  flower  beds  and  turf 
that  would  do  credit  to  the  front  entrance  of  a  country  home. 


A  WIDELY  COPIED  WAREHOUSE 

The  warehouse  of  the  Jasper  Lumber  Co.,  Newton,  la.. 
is  located  within  a  block  of  the  retail  center  of  the  town  and 
so  is  within  the  fire  limits.  This  made  it  necessary  to  use 
clay  products  in  erecting  the  building.  The  Jaspers  chose 
hollow  blocks.  The  front  is  covered  with  rough  dash  stucco 
and  is  trimmed  with  vitrified  brick.  The  roof  is  of  tar  and 
gravel  and  has  given  good  satisfaction.  The  building  itself 
measures  132x172  feet  on  the  ground  and  is  of  double-alley 
design. 

The  inner  foundations  are  of  5x8x1 2-inch  hollow  blocks, 
and  the  piers  upon  which  the  shed  rests  and  the  bearings 
under  the  lower  bins  are  built  separately  with  a  2-inch  space 
between.  The  purpose  of  this  is  to  take  the  heavy  load  of 
the  stock  in  the  lower  bins  off  the  shed  foundations  and  so 
to  lessen  the  danger  of  the  shed's  being  dragged  out  of  shape 
by  settling  bin  foundations.  However,  as  a  matter  of  fact 
none  of  the  piers  or  bearings  has  settled  in  the  least.  The 
bottom  row  of  blocks  in  the  bearings  is  laid  the  1 2-inch  way, 
and  the  upper  courses  are  laid  the  8-inch  way.  Some  of  the 
blocks  are  turned  endwise  to  let  air  under  the  piles.  The 
tops  of  the  piers  and  of  the  bearings  are  level  with  the  drive- 
ways, but  ventilation  is  secured  by  an  excavation  about  18 
inches  deep  under  the  piles. 

The  average  shed  is  a  double  decker  with  a  tier  of  lower 
bins  10  or  12  feet  high  and  an  upper  tier  that  goes  as  high  as 
the  roof  or  the  strength  of  the  yard  men  will  allow.  These 

117 


118 


RETAIL  LUMBER  SHEDS 


Ground   Plan,   Jasper   Lumber  Co.,   Newton,    Iowa 


A  WIDELY  COPIED  WAREHOUSE 


119 


big  lower  bins  seemed  to  the  Jaspers  to  be  wasteful  of  space 
and  of  labor  and  to  be  unsatisfactory  in  the  matter  of  storing 
green  or  damp  stock.  They  noticed  that  the  big  bins  of  their 
old  shed  were  usually  less  than  half  full,  and  when  new 
stock  came  in  it  was  piled  on  top  of  the  old  and  sent  out  first. 
This  meant  that  the  new  stuff  that  was  sometimes  damp  often 
proved  unsatisfactory  and  brought  them  a  good  many  com- 
plaints, and  the  old  stock  laid  in  the  bottom  and  got  black- 


Half  of  Front  Elevation,   Jasper  Lumber   Co. 


ened  and  checked  and  unsalable.  So  the  new  bins  were 
made  smaller,,  and  instead  of  the  orthodox  two  decks  there 
are  three.  The  lower  piles  project  into  the  alley,  the  second- 
deck  piles  come  even  with  the  upright  supports,  and  the 
third-deck  piles  are  set  inside  of  these  uprights  far  enough 
to  allow  room  for  a  walk.  The  lower  bins  are  six  feet  high 
and  so  can  be  filled  by  a  man  standing  on  the  ground.  The 
reserve  bins  just  above  can  be  filled  by  a  man  standing  on  the 


120  RETAIL  LUMBER  SHEDS 

load.  The  practice  is  becoming  common  to  have  two  small 
bins  instead  of  a  single  large  one,  but  to  place  them  side  by 
side  instead  of  one  above  the  other.  The  Jaspers  like  their 
system  better,  because  it  is  not  necessary  to  use  both  bins  to 
capacity  all  the  time,  and  so  practically  always  they  can  store 
in  the  upper  bin  any  damp  lumber  that  happens  to  be  sent 
them.  This  puts  it  away  up  in  the  air,  where  it  has  the  best 
chance  to  dry. 

The  third-deck  bins  are  used  to  store  slow-moving  stock 
but  not  short  lengths.  Short  lengths  usually  sell  with  a 
struggle,  and  the  company  does  not  intend  to  make  that  strug- 
gle harder  by  putting  the  shorts  up  out  of  sight.  In  different 
parts  of  the  construction  of  the  shed  short  lengths  have  been 
used  for  the  purpose  of  displaying  what  can  be  done  with 
them. 

The  ventilation  system  is  one  of  the  most  important  parts 
of  any  building  intended  for  lumber  storage,  for  without  a 
good  draft  of  air  it  will  be  considerably  worse  than  no  build- 
ing at  all.  Probably  the  cardinal  principle  of  shed  con- 
struction is  to  take  a  large  current  of  air  and  then  to  put  the 
building  around  it.  The  Jaspers  succeeded  admirably  in 
doing  this.  Along  the  comb  of  the  roof  are  four  36-inch 
ventilators.  There  are  four  offsets  in  the  roof,  each  fitted 
with  a  row  of  sash.  There  are  two  sash,  20x54  inches  to  each 
9  feet,  and  above  each  row  of  sash  and  under  the  projection 
of  the  roof  is  an  open  space  six  inches  high.  This  provides 
plenty  of  space  for  air  to  get  out,  but  it  won't  go  out  unless 
other  air  can  come  in.  There  are  the  big  doors  at  either 
end  of  the  shed,  but  this  was  not  considered  enough.  Low 
in  each  of  the  two  side  walls  are  ventilators  made  from 


A  WIDELY  COPIED  WAREHOUSE         m 

12-inch  hollow  blocks  laid  lengthwise  thru  the  wall.  A 
dozen  or  more  of  these  blocks  are  laid  together  in  a  little 
pattern  in  each  ventilator,  and  there  is  a  ventilator  every 
nine  feet. 

As  one  enters  the  office  door  he  passes  under  a  projecting 
rain  and  sun  shield  trimmed  with  stucco  to  match  the  front 
of  the  shed.  The  main  office  is  22  feet  square  and  contains 
a  vault  7'x7'-6",  toilet  room,  the  order  counter,  the  coal  ac- 
counts desk  and  the  scale  beam.  Along  the  side  of  the  vault 
that  faces  the  lobby  is  a  built-in  seat  the  top  of  which  is 
hinged.  This  makes  a  convenient  place  to  keep  advertising 
matter  and  samples.  Back  of  the  main  office  are  a  private 
office  i2'xi2'-6"  and  a  stenographer's  office  9/xi2/-6//.  The 
latter  is  equipped  with  an  abundance  of  vertical  files  for  cor- 
respondence and  price  lists.  The  front  office  is  finished  in 
plain  red  oak  finished  in  the  natural,  but  the  order  counter 
has  a  quarter-sawn  top,  and  this  makes  it  easy  for  customers 
to  make  a  comparison  of  the  two  kinds.  The  floor  is  of  ce- 
ment and  is  covered  with  battleship  linoleum.  The  doors 
are  of  oak  and  are  two  paneled. 

The  private  office  is  finished  in  red  gum  and  is  laid  with 
a  clear  beech  floor  of  ilxi^-inch  shorts.  The  longest  piece 
is  7  feet.  The  stenographer's  room  is  finished  in  birch  with 
a  birch  floor  that  is  also  made  of  shorts.  The  walls  of  all  the 
rooms  are  finished  with  paneling  three  feet  above  the  floor 
and  above  that  with  sand  finish  plaster  tinted  to  harmonize 
with  the  woodwork.  The  ceilings  are  of  metal  to  afford  the 
necessary  elasticity ;  for  above  the  office  is  a  store  room  where 
two  or  more  cars  of  hardwood  flooring  are  kept.  The  hot 
and  cold  air  pipes  under  the  cement  floor  of  the  main  office 


Sidewall   Ventilators,    Jasper   Lumber   Co.,    Newton,   Iowa 


A  WIDELY  COPIED  WAREHOUSE         123 

are  of  vitrified  sewer  pipe.  The  window  for  the  scales  is  in 
two  sections  that  slide  back  and  forth. 

The  side  of  the  office  next  to  the  driveway  is  sided  with 
8-foot  box-car  siding.  This  is  another  demonstration  of  the 
usable  qualities  of  short  lumber  and  it  has  helped  in  making 
a  good  many  sales. 

The  storage  room  for  flooring  just  above  the  office  is 
22x36  feet  in  size  and  has  hot  air  pipes  that  are  connected 
with  the  furnace  in  the  basement. 

The  moldings  are  stored  on  end  in  racks  just  back  of  the 
office.  There  are  two  short  alleys  with  molding  bins  on  each 
side.  Each  bin  will  hold  from  3,000  to  4,000  feet  of  i-inch 
moldings,  and  this  makes  a  total  capacity  that  is  ample  for 
the  needs  of  the  business.  This  end-storage  system  has  given 
good  satisfaction  both  because  the  sticks  are  easy  to  handle 
and  also  because  they  keep  cleaner  on  end  than  lying  flat. 

At  the  rear  end  of  the  shed  and  between  the  two  long 
driveways  is  the  lime  and  plaster  warehouse,  a  room  17x32 
feet  in  size.  This  room  has  two  doors,  one  opening  into  each 
of  the  long  alleys.  At  the  side  of  this  wareroom  is  a  short 
driveway  connecting  the  two  long  alleys  and  along  this  drive- 
way, next  to  the  center  piles,  are  bearings  for  long  timbers. 

In  the  corner  diagonally  opposite  from  the  office  is  the 
cement  wareroom.  It  is  17x30  feet  in  size  and  has  a  capacity 
of  about  3,000  sacks.  There  is  a  door  opening  thru  the 
outside  of  the  shed  on  the  west  as  well  as  one  on  the  inside 
opening  from  the  shed  alley.  The  foundations  of  this  room 
consist  of  three  rows  of  hollow  blocks  set  on  concrete 
footings. 

In  the  southwest  corner  of  the  shed  is  the  sash  and  door 


End  of  Shed,  Jasper  Lumber  Co.,  Newton,  Iowa 


Interior  of  West  Alley,  Jasper  Lumber  Co. 


A  WIDELY  COPIED  WAREHOUSE         125 

room,  25x36  feet  in  size.  A  show  window  will  be  cut  in  the 
front  of  this  room  and  a  little  display  room,  5x10  feet  in  size, 
partitioned  off.  This  was  not  included  in  the  original  plans, 
but  the  Jaspers  are  convinced  that  they  can  use  this  kind  of 
advertising  to  advantage.  The  shed  fronts  on  a  street  that 
is  well  traveled  and  they  carry  a  stock  varied  enough  so  that 
window  displays  of  timely  articles  will  doubtless  bring  good 
results. 

On  the  west  side  of  the  shed  between  the  sash  and  door 
room  and  the  cement  wareroom  the  bins  do  not  extend  clear 
back  to  the  wall.  It  is  the  practice  to  store  short  lumber  on 
this  side,  and  this  leaves  a  large  open  space  back  of  the  piles. 
There  are  three  doors,  each  4x7  feet  in  size,  opening  thru 
the  outside  of  the  shed,  and  this  gives  ready  access  to  this  extra 
storage  room.  It  is  used  for  keeping  woven  wire  fencing,, 
sewer  pipe  junctions,  fire  brick  and  clay,  barn  paint  and  other 
bulky  articles.  The  lumber  is  stored  so  that  the  very  short 
lengths  come  opposite  to  these  doors,  thus  leaving  the  most 
storage  room  in  the  most  convenient  and  accessible  places. 

The  yard  was  built  before  the  company  owned  a  delivery 
truck,  but  the  Jaspers  believed  the  time  was  not  far  off  when 
such  a  machine  would  be  a  necessity,  so  they  built  a  garage 
room,  85^x25  feet  in  size,  next  to  the  sash  and  door  room. 

Bins  28  and  29  in  the  front  center  of  the  shed  are  left  clear 
to  be  used  as  a  passage  way  between  the  two  long  alleys.  But 
since  this  is  more  space  than  is  really  necessary  for  a  walk 
some  steel  gates  are  stored  against  each  side.  This  makes  a 
place  to  keep  them  and  also  displays  them  prominently.  A 
good  many  have  been  sold  because  they  caught  the  attention 
of  men  who  perhaps  had  not  thought  of  buying  such  things. 


126  RETAIL  LUMBER  SHEDS 

These  two  bins  have  been  floored  with  two  thicknesses  of 
shiplap  laid  over  the  regular  piling. 

Above  the  sash  room  and  garage  is  an  inclosed  room 
26x45  feet  in  size  in  which  are  stored  stock  doors,  columns 
and  small  items  of  finish  such  as  corner  beads  and  thresholds. 
The  room  is  entirely  light  proof  and  this  makes  certain  that 
the  finish  will  go  out  without  any  light  stains.  Above  bins 
49  to  55  inclusive  is  a  tight  room  in  which  is  carried  all  the 
yellow  pine  trim.  These  bins  are  tightly  floored  and  are 
closed  in  front  by  closely  fitting  sliding  doors.  These  doors 
are  made  of  ^-inch  ceiling  set  in  a  rabbet  in  oak  frames 
made  of  pieces  1x1^2  inches  in  size  so  that  the  outside  has 
a  paneled  appearance.  These  doors  slide  past  each  other  in 
grooves  plowed  half  an  inch  apart.  A  little  axle  grease 
applied  to  the  grooves  from  time  to  time  keeps  them  work- 
ing easily.  By  sliding  the  doors  one  way  or  the  other  the 
front  can  be  opened  to  any  desired  size. 

After  building  as  good  a  warehouse  as  they  could  the 
Jaspers  beautified  it  by  planting  Boston  ivy  along  the  side 
walls.  This  plant  has  done  well  on  the  walls  of  some  of  the 
Newton  churches  and  presumably  it  will  do  as  well  on  the 
sides  of  the  lumber  shed. 


A  NORTHERN   RETAIL   AND    DISTRIBUTING 

YARD 

The  C.  L.  Colman  Lumber  Co.  has  a  branch  yard  at 
Albert  Lea,  Minn.,  upon  which  it  expended  much  money 
and  pains.  It  was  designed  to  be  larger  than  the  needs  of 
the  one  community  would  make  necessary,  for  it  serves  as  a 
distributing  point  for  the  line  of  yards  owned  by  this  com- 
pany. 

The  tract  of  ground  upon  which  the  yard  is  located  is 
slightly  irregular  in  shape  and  is  a  little  smaller  than  a  city 
block.  It  is  on  a  side  hill,  and  the  street  along  the  east  side 
is  some  eight  or  ten  feet  higher  than  the  level  of  the  yard. 
The  office  is  built  in  the  northeast  corner  of  the  yard.  The 
entrance  is  from  the  street  level,  and  this  makes  the  base- 
ment above  ground  on  two  sides.  This  basement  contains  a 
lounging  room  for  the  yard  men.  The  office  is  built  of 
pressed  brick,  and  the  outside  woodwork,  including  the 
doors,  is  of  fir  finished  in  the  rough  and  stained  brown.  The 
interior  is  finished  in  golden  oak.  The  front  door  leads  into 
a  lobby  longer  than  it  is  wide  that  extends  across  the  north 
side  of  the  building.  At  the  left  as  one  enters  this  door  is  a 
private  office  extending  across  the  east  side.  The  bookkeep- 
er's and  order  clerk's  room  is  in  the  southwest  corner  of  the 
room  and  is  separated  from  the  lobby  by  a  handsome  bank 
rail.  A  door  in  the  west  end  of  the  lobby  leads  by  means  of 
an  outside  stair  to  the  yard. 

There  are  two  single-alley  sheds  standing  parallel,  the 

127 


128 


RETAIL  LUMBER  SHEDS 


9*/fo' 


Ground  Plan,  C.  L.  Colman  Lumber  Co.,  Albert  Lea,  Minn. 


RETAIL  AND  DISTRIBUTING  YARD      129 

0 

north  one  forming  the  outside  wall  of  the  yard.  It  is  ex- 
tended westward  by  an  open  shed  that  presently  turns  south 
and  forms  the  west  wall  of  the  yard.  The  entire  yard  is 
inclosed  in  such  a  manner  that  a  trespasser  would  have  a 
hard  time  getting  in.  Where  the  street  is  higher  than  the 
yard  steel  posts  have  been  set  in  the  cement  of  the  sidewalk, 


End  Elevation  of  Inclosed  Sheds 

and  these  posts  carry  an  ornamental  woven  fence.  The  cor- 
ner space  where  the  open  shed  makes  the  turn  at  the  north- 
west corner  of  the  yard*  is  utilized  as  a  storage  place  for 
special  millwork  and  for  storing  the  stock  stuff  sold  for  any 
particular  job.  As  soon  as  the  sale  is  made  the  millwork  is 
picked  out  and  piled  here  to  make  sure  that  no  sudden  run 
on  millwork  will  make  it  impossible  to  fill  the  order. 


RETAIL  AND  DISTRIBUTING  YARD      131 

The  cement  room  is  supported  by  a  series  of  1 2-inch 
walls  three  feet  apart  on  center.  This  makes  the  open  spaces 
between  them  only  two  feet  wide.  On  top  of  these  walls 
heavy  joists  are  laid,  so  there  is  little  danger  that  the  heavy 
loads  a  cement  room  must  carry  will  ever  break  this  one 
down.  Special  attention  is  called  to  the  big  King  ventilators 
on  the  inclosed  shed.  Ventilation  was  one  of  the  primary 
requisites  that  the  builders  of  the  yard  had  in  mind.  The 
sheds  are  covered,  sides  and  roof,  with  galvanized  iron.  This 
was  made  necessary  by  the  fact  that  the  yard  is  within  a  block 


End  Elevation,  Open  Sheds 

of  the  retail  center  of  the  town  and  so  well  within  the  fire 
limits.  i 

The  second  decks  are  protected  with  guard  rails,  and  the 
stairs  leading  to  the  upper  walks  lead  up  to  trap  doors  that 
when  open  serve  as  a  barrier  to  keep  the  careless  from  falling 


132  RETAIL  LUMBER  SHEDS 

down  the  stair  well.  The  stable  is  floored  with  cement  with 
a  top  lining  of  plank.  The  molding  racks  are  modifications 
of  the  pigeonhole  type.  Iron  brackets  set  in  the  position  a 
small  boy's  arm  assumes  when  he  carries  in  the  kindling  are 
fastened  to  the  wall.  These  brackets  are  set  closely  enough 
together  so  that  the  sticks  will  not  sag.  They  have  the  advan- 
tage of  the  pigeon-hole  case  in  that  stock  can  be  put  in  and 
taken  out  more  easily  and  that  a  person  can  tell  at  a  glance 
how  long  any  given  stick  is. 

A  study  of  the  sketches  shown  herewith  will  give  the 
reader  a  good  idea  of  the  general  plan. 


A  CAREFULLY  PLANNED  DOUBLE-ALLEY 
WAREHOUSE 

R.  C.  Daly  &  Co.  (Inc.),  of  Newton,  la.,  have  a  lumber 
warehouse  that  may  be  considered  a  model  of  its  kind.  It  is 
located  within  the  fire  limits  of  the  city  and  so  perforce  was 
built  of  hollow  blocks.  It  is  a  double-alley  shed  and  is  ex- 
actly square,  measuring  132  feet,  6  inches  on  each  side.  It 
faces  east  on  a  paved  street.  In  fact  the  shed  is  surrounded 
by  paved  streets  and  alleys,  which  gives  it  a  manifest  advan- 
tage in  hauling  and  in  the  control  of  dust.  The  building 
measures  32  feet  to  the  comb  and  has  26-foot  alleys.  These 
wide  alleys  are  features  of  which  the  builders  are  especially 
proud. 

The  bins  north  of  the  north  alley  are  20  feet  deep.  The 
center  is  32  feet  wide,  and  the  bins  south  of  the  south  alley 
are  26  feet  deep.  This  row  of  bins  on  the  south  allows  for  the 
storage  of  long  stuff.  But  there  always  is  space  back  next  the 
wall  that  would  go  to  waste,  so  three  doors  have  been  cut  in. 
the  south  wall,  and  this  space  is  used  for  the  storage  of  asphalt 
shingles  and  other  heavy  stuff.  The  office  is  in  the  front 
center  of  the  shed  and  measures  32  by  29  feet.  Next  to  this 
and  extending  back  36  feet  farther  in  the  center  of  the  shed 
are  the  sash  and  door  rooms. 

The  foundations  were  made  extra  heavy.  When  some 
brother  lumberman  protested  that  the  Dalys  were  wasting 
money  by  making  the  foundations  heavier  than  necessary 
they  replied  that  they  hoped  to  be  in  the  lumber  business  for 

133 


Northwest  Arkansas  Lumber  Co.,  Fayetteville,  Ark. 


R.  C.  Daly  Lumber  Co.,  Newton,  Iowa 


DOUBLE-ALLEY  WAREHOUSE  135 

0 

a  great  many  years,  and  they  did  not  care  to  have  this  shed 
fall  down  because  it  was  not  solidly  supported.  So  the  extra 
concrete  went  in.  It  didn't  cost  much  more  than  the  lighter 
walls  would  have  cost,  and  the  shed  has  not  shown  the  slight- 
est sag  in  any  place.  The  bearings  in  the  lower  bins  are  of 
cement  with  square  tile  set  thru  them  at  short  intervals  for 
ventilation.  These  bearings  are  four  feet  apart  and  have  a 
2-inch  piece  on  the  top  to  keep  the  stock  from  lying  directly 
on  the  concrete.  The  shed  is  a  three  decker  with  room  for  a 
fourth  deck  in  the  center  if  it  ever  should  be  needed.  The 
lower  deck  extends  out  into  the  alley  about  18  inches  beyond 
the  uprights  that  divide  the  bins  and  support  the  roof.  The 
second  deck  comes  even  with  this  upright,  and  the  third  is 
set  inside  far  enough  to  allow  for  a  walk  between  the  upright 
and  the  ends  of  the  stock  that  is  stored  in  the  bins.  The  idea 
is  to  have  the  deep  bins  at  the  bottom  for  the  long,  heavy 
lumber  and  the  shallower  bins  at  the  top  for  the  shorter  and 
lighter  stuff.  This  allows  more  room  in  the  upper  reaches 
of  the  alley,  where  very  often  it  is  a  convenience.  The  lower 
tiers  of  bins  are  6y2  feet  in  height,  the  second  5  feet,  and  the 
third  extend  to  the  roof.  On  the  north  side,  due  to  the  fact 
that  the  bins  are  but  20  feet  in  depth,  the  upper  tier  does  not 
have  a  large  capacity,  but  it  serves  conveniently  for  the  stor- 
age of  a  good  many  items. 

The  bearings  for  the  upper  tiers  of  bins  were  especially 
designed  by  Claude  Daly  and  bid  fair  to  hold  up  all  that  can 
be  piled  on  them.  Claude  had  observed  the  melancholy 
sight  of  a  supporting  timber  with  a  diagonal  crack  running 
thru  it,  a  long,  jagged  splinter  sticking  down,  and  a  sag  in  the 
bin  that  meant  a  dismal  spill  sooner  or  later.  His  remedy 


136  RETAIL  LUMBER  SHEDS 

for  this  condition  was  a  special  bearing  made  of  two  2x8's 
with  a  regular  bridge  truss  between  them.  This  bearing  was 
made  by  putting  in  a  2x8,  spiking  a  2x8  block  to  one  side  of  it 
in  the  center  of  the  span,  and  putting  pieces  of  2x4,  cut  with 
a  bevel,  on  each  side  of  the  block.  The  2x4  rested  against 
the  block  at  the  top  and  extended  to  the  bottom  of  the  2x8 
at  the  supporting  end,  where  it  fitted  firmly  against  the  sup- 
porting timbers.  When  these  two  pieces  of  2x4  were  in  place 
they  formed  braces  like  the  roof  of  a  house.  Then  the  other 
2x8  was  spiked  on.  The  truss  was  fitted  in  tightly.  In  fact,  it 
was  driven  into  place  with  an  ax.  So  it  doesn't  take  much 
imagination  or  much  engineering  knowledge  to  see  that  these 
bearings  are  fitted  to  carry  big  loads  and  that  if  they  do  break 
down  the  building  is  likely  to  fall  first. 

The  ventilation  system  thru  the  outside  walls,  the  feature 
that  R.  C.  Daly  claims  as  his  own,  consists  of  five  horizontal 
lines  of  tile  set  endwise  thru  the  walls.  These  lines  are  not 
continuous  from  one  end  of  the  shed  to  the  other.  At  the 
points  of  division  between  bins  the  wall  is  solid.  Three  of 
these  lines  of  open  tile  come  into  the  lower  deck  and  two 
into  the  middle  deck.  They  allow  a  ready  circulation  of 
air;  so  ready,  indeed,  that  they  made  the  shed  unbearably 
cold  during  the  winter.  So  the  Dalys  nailed  boards  to  the 
timbers  against  the  wall  at  the  points  of  division  between  the 
bins.  These  boards  had  notches  cut  in  them  that  served  as 
grooves  in  which  were  fitted  long  boards  that  covered  the 
ends  of  the  open  tile.  Then  up  a  little  way  in  the  groove 
was  made  a  second  notch  so  the  board  can  be  pushed  up  and 
slipped  out  at  the  bottom  enough  to  engage  the  second  notch ; 
and  there  it  rests  with  the  ventilators  wide  open.  Big  vcn- 


DOUBLE-ALLEY  WAREHOUSE  137 

flj 

tilators  on  the  comb  allow  the  air  to  escape,  and  at  almost 
any  time  they  have  a  draft  like  that  of  a  chimney.  There 
are  two  rows  of  windows  in  offsets  of  the  roof  on  each  side, 
but  they  are  used  more  for  lighting  than  for  ventilation. 

All  the  walks  in  front  of  the  bins  are  protected  by  guard 
rails.  In  time  Mr.  Daley  intends  to  put  the  added  protec- 
tion of  a  toe  board  along  all  the  walks  and  cross  bridges. 
This  toe  board  is  nothing  but  a  strip  nailed  along  the  edge 
and  extending  an  inch  or  two  above  the  level  of  the  walk. 
It  will  keep  a  man  who  is  in  the  throes  of  pulling  out  a  board 
from  sliding  his  hind  foot  over  the  edge  and  barking  his 
shin  or  falling  clear  thru  under  the  rail. 

Moldings  are  stored  on  end  in  big  racks  at  the  west  end 
of  the  millwork  warerooms  that  are  located  in  the  central 
part  of  the  shed  back  of  the  office.  These  end-storage  racks 
have  the  full  approval  of  the  owners  and  of  the  men.  The 
racks  have  horizontal  bracing  strips  nailed  every  two  feet, 
and  by  means  of  these  strips  it  is  an  easy  matter  to  tell  the 
length  of  a  stick. 

Surplus  molding  is  stored  temporarily  on  the  top  of  the 
sash  and  doors  rooms.  The  height  of  the  shed  leaves  a  good 
deal  of  room  in  the  top  center  unutilized,  but  if  need  ever 
arises  it  is  there  ready  to  be  used.  A  good  many  of  the  breth- 
ern  with  yards  located  in  cities  where  space  is  at  a  premium 
make  practical  use  of  space  harder  to  be  gotten  at  than  would 
a  fourth  deck.  It  is  possible  that  at  some  time  in  the  future 
the  yard  will  carry  a  complete  stock  of  building  hardware. 
The  top  of  these  warerooms  can  be  made  to  serve  as  a  storage 
place  for  stock  very  easily  by  the  installation  of  an  elevator. 
At  the  present  time  aside  from  the  extra  molding  on  top  of 


138  RETAIL  LUMBER  SHEDS 

the  millwork  rooms  the  only  stock  stored  up  in  the  fourth- 
deck  region  is  ladders. 

The  sash  and  door  rooms  have  double  doors  opening  into 
each  of  the  two  alleys.  In  planning  these  rooms  it  was  the 
idea  to  store  all  the  doors  and  windows  flat,  and  in  time  it  is 
probable  that  this  will  be  accomplished.  But  in  the  hurry 
of  getting  the  stock  in  it  was  necessary  to  put  in  some  tem- 
porary racks,  so  some  of  the  windows  and  a  few  of  the  doors 
are  on  edge.  The  upper  tier  of  window  racks  is  hung  from 
the  ceiling,  and  when  the  permanent  racks  are  all  in  place 
they  will  be  filled  with  stock  in  the  order  in  which  it  is  listed 
in  the  standard  sash  books.  With  this  arrangement  it  will  be 
a  simple  matter  to  check  over  the  stock  and  to  see  what  sizes 
are  running  low. 

Claude  Daly,  being  an  electrical  engineer,  designed  the 
lighting  circuits  and  did  the  wiring  himself.  His  father 
thought  there  would  be  little  need  for  much  light  in  the 
alleys,  but  Claude  put  three  highpower  nitrogen  lamps  in 
each  alley.  In  the  winter  time  when  the  days  are  short  it 
gets  dark  in  the  shed  a  good  while  before  quitting  time,  but 
those  lamps  light  it  about  as  brightly  as  the  sun  would,  and 
work  can  go  on  easily  without  the  slowing  up  that  always 
goes  with  poor  lighting.  There  are  about  three  light  circuits 
in  the  yard  and  in  the  warerooms,  so  Claude  put  a  little  pilot 
light  on  each  circuit.  These  pilot  lights  are  placed  in  the 
main  office  where  they  are  in  plain  sight  thru  the  front  win- 
dows and  from  about  any  place  in  the  office.  If  a  man  turns 
on  a  circuit  and  then  forgets  it  the  burning  of  the  pilot  light 
will  remind  him. 

The  shed  alleys  at  the  west  end  open  out  on  to  an  alley 


DOUBLE-ALLEY  WAREHOUSE  139 

• 

that  is  rather  narrow,  so  the  doors  have  been  made  20  feet 
wide  to  make  driving  out  and  in  easier.  The  door  at  the  east 
end  of  the  north  alley  is  also  20  feet  wide,  for  the  plan  is  a 
little  later  to  put  scales  in  that  alley;  but  the  east  door  of  the 
south  alley  is  14  feet.  These  doors  are  large  in  area  and  have 
to  stand  a  heavy  wind  pressure.  To  be  sure  that  some  morn- 
ing after  a  high  wind  the  doors  will  not  be  found  blown  half 
way  down  the  alley  a  heavy  iron  brace  is  put  in  the  center 
of  each  door,  about  four  feet  above  the  bottom.  When  the 
door  is  to  be  opened  this  rod  is  swung  around  and  laid  over 
a  hook  on  the  side  of  the  door  where  it  is  entirely  out  of  the 
way.  But  when  the  door  is  closed  the  bar  is  hooked  thru  an 
eye  set  solidly  in  cement  about  five  or  six  feet  back  in  the 
alley.  The  west  end  of  the  shed  fronts  on  an  alley  on  the 
opposite  side  of  which  are  a  couple  of  barns.  The  presence 
of  these  barns  increases  the  danger  of  fire  and  raises  the  insur- 
ance rate,  so  in  order  to  reduce  both  the  danger  and  the  rate 
these  west  doors  are  encased  with  metal.  There  is  a  hydrant 
in  each  alley. 

The  roomy  front  office  is  dominated  by  the  handsome 
order  desk.  The  Dalys  wanted  to  make  the  office  attractive, 
convenient  and  usable  without  investing  an  unreasonable 
sum  of  money  in  it.  This  big  desk  is  the  focal  point,  the  bal- 
ancing feature  in  the  Daly  office.  The  office  itself  is  large, 
being  32  feet  wide.  The  desk  would  have  been  a  sort  of 
semicircle  had  it  followed  curved  lines,  but  it  follows 
straight  lines  and  so  has  five  faces. 

In  the  first  place  this  piece  of  furniture  is  the  working 
center  of  the  office.  On  the  rear  sides  it  is  fitted  with  files  and 
drawers  for  every  kind  of  working  tackle  needed  in  a  retail 


140  RETAIL  LUMBER  SHEDS 

office,  and  everything  has  a  definite  place.  Among  the  rest 
is  a  cash  drawer.  The  telephone  sets  on  this  desk,  and  the 
cord  goes  down  thru  a  hole  and  is  weighted  so  it  slides  down 
out  of  the  way.  There  are  push  buttons  connected  with  a 
buzzer  in  the  private  office  where  there  is  a  telephone  exten- 
sion and  connecting  with  a  gong  out  in  the  yard.  Each  man 
about  the  place  has  a  certain  ring  and  can  be  called  into  the 
office  by  the  ringing  of  the  gong.  The  desk  is  the  first  thing 
you  see  when  you  go  into  the  office.  Like  ancient  Rome  all 
roads  lead  to  it.  It  focuses  all  the  forces.  A  man  behind 
this  desk  is  in  the  center  of  the  business  life  of  the  yard. 

In  the  second  place  it  serves  as  a  demonstration  of  woods 
and  finishes.  This  desk  is  paneled  with  more  than  a  dozen 
different  kinds  of  wood,  and  the  panels  are  big,  generous 
affairs  that  fill  the  eye.  The  desk  has  a  plain  oak  frame  and 
a  quartered  top.  There  are  three  yellow  pine  panels — dark, 
golden  and  natural.  Next  are  three  birch  panels  in  the  same 
finishes.  Following  are  two  quartered  red  oak  panels  in  nat- 
ural and  golden  finishes,  two  quartered  white  oak  in  natural 
and  golden,  red  gum,  plain  red  oak  natural,  walnut,  two  syca- 
more, plain  and  quartered,  and  a  birch  panel  finished  in  imi- 
tation of  mahogany. 

Just  back  of  the  order  desk  is  the  fireproof  vault.  This 
has  not  been  made  burglar  proof,  but  it  is  not  the  intent  of 
the  company  to  keep  more  than  a  million  dollars  lying 
around  at  any  one  time.  On  the  north  side  of  the  vault  is  the 
private  office,  and  on  the  south  side  are  the  service  office  and 
the  lavatory.  This  service  office  is  a  place  where  the  books 
can  be  posted  if  too  much  hilarity  prevails  in  the  front  lobby. 
It  is  also  a  place  where  a  contractor  can  take  a  customer  for 


DOUBLE-ALLEY  WAREHOUSE  141 

a  private  conference.  In  the  lobby  is  a  little  cabinet  with 
glass  doors  in  front  in  which  it  is  proposed  to  keep  a  display 
of  molding. 


A  MODEL  YARD  IN  THE  SOUTHWEST 

.  James  Costello,  of  Liberty,  Mo.,  has  had  a  wide  expe- 
rience in  the  retailing  of  lumber,  and  he  has  a  wide  acquaint- 
ance among  practical  lumbermen;  so  he  had  a  great  fund  of 
experience  to  draw  upon  in  designing  his  sheds  and  yard. 

The  Costello  yard  is  on  a  piece  of  ground  that  would 
measure  210  by  360  feet  were  it  rectangular.  But  the  rail- 
road takes  a  corner  off  and  there  is  a  notch  out  of  the  oppo- 
site side.  The  yard  slopes  from  front  to  back.  It  is  inter- 
esting and  instructive  to  see  how  deftly  this  irregular  space 
has  been  utilized  to  make  a  complete  and  convenient  retail- 
ing plant.  The  cement  shed  and  the  stable  were  already 
built,  so  the  rest  of  the  yard  had  to  be  planned  to  round  out 
what  had  already  been  begun.  A  glance  at  the  sketch  of  the 
yard  will  show  how  this  has  been  managed.  A  wagon  makes 
a  circuit  of  the  yard,  loading  the  heavy  lumber  first,  comes 
past  the  shingle  and  lath  platform,  and  finishes  the  load  with 
the  sash  and  doors  from  the  warehouse  and  the  hardware 
from  the  office.  A  very  little  planning  will  make  it  possible 
to  put  on  any  load  in  the  proper  order  without  doubling 
back. 

Experience  has  shown  Mr.  Costello  that  during  a  con- 
siderable part  of  the  year  Missouri  skies  cloud  up  and  rain 
and  Missouri  soil  gets  muddy.  It  is  a  good  thing  to  keep 
Missouri  or  any  other  kind  of  rain  from  falling  on  lumber, 
and  it  is  also  a  good  thing  to  keep  mud  out  of  a  yard.  It 

142 


A  MODEL  YARD 


143 


splashes  on  the  ends  of  piles,  causes  them  to  draw  dampness, 
makes  a  mess  in  which  neither  customers  nor  yard  men  like 
to  work  and  gives  the  whole  plant  a  frowsy  appearance  that 
doesn't  help  sales.  There  seemed  to  be  only  one  way  to 
remedy  this,  and  that  was  to  remedy  it.  So  the  Costello  yard 
is  completely  covered  with  cement  paving.  The  alleys  be- 
tween the  warehouse,  office,  barn,  cement  shed  and  the  main 


End  Elevation,  Main  Shed,  James  Costello  Lumber  Co.,  Liberty,  Mo. 


storage  shed  are  paved,  as  are  the  alleys  on  each  side  of  the 
main  shed  and  the  one  running  thru  the  center.  These 
alleys  are  slightly  hollowed  so  that  they  will  drain  the  rain 
that  falls  on  the  yard  back  to  the  gutters  of  the  adjoining 
street.  The  streets  on  each  side  of  the  yard  are  paved,  so  the 
business  of  keeping  the  place  clean  is  very  simple.  Sweeping 
or  flushing  the  yard  paving  once  in  a  while  keeps  the  place  as 
clean  as  a  Dutch  kitchen.  This  paving,  probably,  is  the  most 


144 


RETAIL  LUMBER  SHEDS 


distinctive  feature  of  the  yard.  It  is  surprising  how  much 
this  adds  to  the  appearance  of  the  place.  There  are  some 
men  who,  no  matter  what  kind  of  work  they  are  doing  or  how 
roughly  they  are  dressed,  always  look  clean  and  fresh  and 


-.06 


IS 


SSI  A 


-lo^/ 


w 


trim.  A  well-built  yard  with  inches  of  dust  lying  in  the 
alleys  or  seas  of  mud  around  the  buildings  is  like  an  elegantly 
dressed  man  with  shaggy  hair  and  three  days'  growth  of 
beard  on  his  face.  Of  course  the  cost  of  this  paving  was  one 
of  the  big  expenses  of  the  yard  equipment,  and  from  the  point 


A  MODEL  YARD  145 

of  view  of  a  forest  products  fan  it  might  better  have  been 
made  of  wood  blocks.  But  Mr.  Costello  had  his  own  ideas 
about  material ;  and  one  is  not  likely  to  quarrel  with  him,  for 
the  appearance  of  the  yard  with  its  clean  paving  is  too  attract- 
ive for  an  observer  to  be  critical  of  materials.  Perhaps  when 
the  place  needs  repaving  wood  blocks  will  be  given  a  chance. 

The  yard  is  surrounded  by  a  fence  not  easily  scaled  and 
the  whole  plant  can  be  shut  up  and  locked  nights  and  holi- 
days. This  is  not  wholly  for  the  purpose  of  protecting  stock 
from  the  light-fingered  gentry  who  might  shove  a  scantling 
into  a  rear  pocket  and  stroll  innocently  past  the  local  police 
force.  The  yard  is  within  half  a  block  of  the  Burlington  sta- 
tion and  so  would  be  a  shining;  mark,  a  veritable  haven,  for 
Weary  Willie  when  he  dropped  of!  a  freight.  It  also  would 
be  a  natural  stamping  ground  for  loafers.  The  front  of  the 
yard  is  protected  by  a  high  picket  fence  and  the  sides  by  wire 
fences  with  barbed  projections  at  the  top. 

The  office  is  a  one-story  building  with  a  gable  'roof  and 
projecting  eaves.  It  is  built  on  a  high  foundation,  has  a 
porch  and  a  canvas  awning  in  front,  is  sided  with  bevel  siding 
and  is  painted  green  and  trimmed  in  dark  red.  The  building 
is  set  back  far  enough  to  allow  plenty  of  room  between  ths 
porch  and  the  picket  fence  and  its  appearance  is  very 
pleasing. 

The  office  building  is  24  by  70  feet  in  size  and  is  divided 
into  three  parts.  The  office  proper  is  24  feet  square.  Back 
of  that  is  a  room  in  which  building  hardware  is  kept,  and 
in  the  rear  of  the  building  is  a  warm  room  for  hardwood 
flooring.  In  the  basement  are  the  lavatory  and  the  furnace. 
The  furnace,  so  Mr,  Costello  says,  burns  little,  if  any,  more 


Office  and  Warehouse,  James  Costello  Lumber  Co.,   Liberty,  Mo. 


Main  Shed,  James  Costello  Lumber  Co.,  Liberty,  Mo. 


A  MODEL  YARD  147 

coal  than  would  a  stove,  and  it  maintains  an  even  heat  and 
also  warms  the  flooring  storage  room. 

The  warm  room  in  the  Costello  office  is  well  fitted  for  its 
purpose.  The  high  foundation  keeps  dampness  from  enter- 
ing from  below  and  the  furnace  heat  does  the  rest.  While 
heat  is  not  usually  to  be  had  during  the  summer  months  it  is 
not  impossible  to  light  a  fire  in  the  furnace  at  any  time  and 
to  throw  all  the  heat  into  the  flooring  room. 

The  office  part  of  the  building  is  divided  into  three  parts. 
There  is  a  private  office  9  by  10  feet  in  size  in  one  of  the  front 
corners,  a  railed-in  part  for  the  bookkeeper  and  order  clerks 
in  the  opposite  corner  in  the  back  of  the  room  and  the  public 
lobby  comprising  the  rest  of  the  room.  The  office  is  finished 
in  oak,  but  Mr.  Costello  said  the  flooring  and  doors  used 
were  some  that  could  not  be  sold  on  account  of  their  odd 
sizes.  There  are  two-panel  doors  and  cross-panel  doors  of  a 
size  seldom  called  for,  but  they  serve  for  display  purposes. 
A  customer  can  see  the  effect  of  the  different  paneling  in 
spite  of  the  odd  sizes.  The  windows  are  all  the  same  size  and 
fitted  with  sash  44x32  inches  in  size,  but  some  are  single  pane 
sash  and  some  of  them  have  three  panes  in  the  upper  sash. 
The  flooring  is  made  of  odds  and  ends  of  oak,  some  white  and 
some  red,  in  various  grades.  It  is  possible  to  point  out  the 
different  kinds  to  customers ;  and  while  they  may  not  get  as 
good  an  idea  of  the  finished  effect  as  they  could  from  an 
entire  floor  of  a  single  kind  and  grade  this  method  has  served 
the  double  purpose  of  using  up  stock  that  otherwise  would 
be  a  loss  and  of  showing  all  kinds  and  grades  after  a  fashion 
where  otherwise  but  a  single  kind  in  a  single  grade  could 
have  been  shown.  The  floor  looks  much  finer  than  a  person 


148  RETAIL  LUMBER  SHEDS 

might  suppose  possible.  In  fact,  the  different  styles  and  sizes 
of  doors  and  other  interior  trim  are  put  together  in  such  a 
way  that  the  finished  effect  is  one  of  unity  and  harmony. 

The  bank  railing  around  the  order  desk  is  of  particularly 
fine  workmanship,  being  of  fumed  waxed  oak  and  brush 
brass.  It  was  suggested  and  made  by  a  friend  of  Mr.  Cos- 
tello's  who  specializes  in  that  kind  of  interior  work.  Back 
of  the  desk  and  set  in  the  rear  wall  is  the  fireproof  vault  with 
the  carefully  filed  records  of  the  business  kept  from  the  time 
the  company  was  started. 

The  private  office,  tho  a  small  room,  is  large  enough 
to  serve  the  purpose  for  which  it  was  designed.  There  is  a 
large  flat-topped  desk  in  the  center  of  the  room  and  an  easy 
chair  at  each  side.  Mr.  Costello  does  little  of  his  work  there. 
He  has  a  roll-top  desk  out  in  the  lobby  where  he  does  most 
of  his  work.  But  many  of  his  customers,  especially  women, 
do  not  like  to  talk  over  their  affairs  where  other  people  can 
hear.  The  pleasant  little  private  room  with  its  comfortable 
and  elegant  furnishings  is  for  the  convenience  of  these  people. 

It  is  not  possible  to  show  much  detail  of  the  big  shed  on 
a  small  sketch  of  the  whole  yard.  The  building  measures 
92  by  120  feet  and  has  a  2O-foot  alley  thru  the  center.  The 
shed  is  open  on  each  side  and  has  a  paved  driveway  on  each 
side.  On  each  side  of  the  central  driveway  is  a  storage  space 
36  feet  in  width  which  allows  the  storage  of  20-  and  1 6-foot 
stock  end  to  end.  There  are  nine  rows  of  cement  piers,  each 
measuring  10  by  12  inches  at  the  top,  running  the  full  length 
of  each  side.  And  on  each  side  are  twenty-six  bins  measuring 
4  feet  6  inches  on  center.  The  eaves  project  to  form  a  hood  at 
the  sides,  but  otherwise  there  is  no  special  obstruction  to  keep 


A  MODEL  YARD  149 

0 

the  wind  from  blowing  clear  thru  the  building  from  one  side 
to  the  other. 

This  special  attention  to  ventilation  is  another  result  of 
Mr.  Costello's  wide  experience.  He  has  found  that  dust  and 
snow  collect  in  closed  about  as  much  as  in  open  sheds.  In 
fact,  he  said  that  in  open  sheds  where  the  wind  blows  thru 
there  is  probably  less  trouble  with  these  things.  The  dust 
does  not  stop  at  all,  and  the  wind  causes  such  snow  as  does 
drift  in  to  evaporate  without  melting.  In  addition  to  the 
open  sides  there  are  two  King  ventilators  on  the  comb,  and 
there  are  thirteen  windows  on  each  side  along  the  upper 
offset  in  the  roof.  These  arrangements  serve  to  keep  the 
lumber  piles  as  well  aired  as  tho  they  were  put  out  of  doors, 
and  perhaps  even  better;  for  the  roof  serves  much  the  same 
purpose  as  a  chimney  and  causes  a  strong  upward  draft  on 
still,  hot  summer  days.  The  storage  space  under  the  eaves  is 
but  one  deck  in  height.  In  the  center  there  are  three  decks, 
tho  there  is  no  walk  along  the  front  of  the  top  one.  The  walk 
along  the  middle  deck  is  protected  by  a  guard  rail,  and  there 
is  a  cross  bridge  in  the  center  of  the  shed.  The  upright  posts 
along  the  middle  alley  are  each  made  up  of  two  ax6's  up  as 
far  as  the  third  deck,  and  from  there  up  of  one  2x6. 

In  the  roof  on  each  side  are  two  offsets.  Mr.  Costello  was 
wondering  how  to  keep  the  shed  from  looking  like  a  great, 
clumsy  barn  and  hit  upon  this  device.  Then  he  was  not  sure 
how  it  would  work  out  and  was  rather  relieved  to  find  the 
effect  of  the  completed  building  so  good.  Its  appearance  is 
very  pleasing.  The  ends  of  the  building  are  covered  with 
drop  siding,  and  it  is  painted  dark  red  and  trimmed  with 
green,,  thus  reversing  the  color  scheme  of  the  office.  The 


150  RETAIL  LUMBER  SHEDS 

ground  slopes  to  the  back  end  of  the  shed,  as  was  mentioned 
before,  and  this  made  it  necessary  to  put  three  different 
levels  in  the  line  of  the  lower  bearings  on  one  side  of  the  shed 
and  two  offsets  and  a  sub-deck  on  the  other. 

The  shingle  and  lath  platform  located  near  one  corner  of 
the  main  shed  is  made  of  cement  and  is  36  feet  square.  It 
slopes  slightly  to  the  sides  from  the  middle  to  insure  that  no 
water  will  stand  under  the  bundles. 

The  warehouse  across  the  alley  from  this  shingle  plat- 
form measures  36  by  90  feet.  The  alley  between  the  ware- 
house and  the  office  is  paved,  but  the  alley  on  the  opposite  side 
is  covered  with  cinders.  This  makes  a  satisfactory  drive, 
and  this  access  to  each  side  enables  the  yard's  teams  to  haul 
stock  from  the  cars  for  storage  in  the  warehouse  without 
interfering  with  customers7  or  delivery  teams  that  are  taking 
stock  out.  There  is  a  loading  platform  along  the  side  all 
except  for  about  18  feet  at  the  rear  end.  This  loading  plat- 
form is  on  a  level  with  the  wagon  beds.  The  foundation  at 
the  rear  end  is  much  lower,  and  here  there  are  two  end- 
storage  molding  bins.  Each  bin  has  a  tight  door.  Each 
bin  slants  outward  from  the  bottom,  and  the  two  together 
occupy  space  much  like  VV.  This  leaves  a  certain  amount 
of  unutilized  space  at  the  bottom  between  the  two,  so  Mr. 
Costello  cut  a  door  in  the  side  next  the  office  and  put  in  a 
pigeon-hole  rack  for  battens.  He  is  strongly  in  favor  of  the 
end  storage  of  moldings.  In  his  opinion  this  storage  takes 
up  less  room ;  a  workman  can  set  in  a  bundle  at  a  time,  instead 
of  a  stick  at  a  time  as  must  be  done  with  the  pigeon-hole  type ; 
it  is  easy  to  pick  out  the  right  length  at  a  glance,  and  the 
shaking  keeps  all  the  stock  free  from  dust. 


A  MODEL  YARD  151 

01 

The  remaining  space  in  the  warehouse,  being  72  feet  in 
length,  is  divided  into  four  rooms  each  1 8  by  36  feet  in  size. 
One  room  is  used  for  storing  doors,  another  for  sash,  a  third 
for  roofing  and  the  fourth  for  a  variety  of  things  that  do  not 
classify  elsewhere.  In  the  door  room  is  a  long  rack  that  holds 
the  doors  in  an  upright  position  and  allows  them  to  be  swung 
back  and  forth  for  comparison. 

Doors  and  sash  are  stored  on  edge  in  racks  that  are  three 
decks  high.  This  kind  of  storage  allows  of  piling  a  large 
amount  of  stock  in  a  given  space,  and  the  way  this  warehouse 
is  arranged  there  is  ample  space  for  moving  around.  It  is 
usual  to  see  a  sash  and  door  room  piled  so  full  of  stock  that 
one  has  to  edge  his  way  around  among  the  piles,  and  if  a 
workman  scatters  a  few  windows  about  in  looking  for  a  par- 
ticular kind  or  size  a  mess  results  that  it  is  not  a  pleasant 
thing  to  contemplate. 

The  stable  is  not  in  any  way  unusual.  It  is  a  two-story 
brick  building  40  feet  square  with  stall  room  for  four  horses. 
In  one  corner  is  a  room  in  which  is  located  the  scale  beam. 
The  scales  platform  is  on  the  side  next  the  street.  These 
scales  were  put  in  solely  to  care  for  the  yard's  own  business, 
but  on  account  of  the  central  location  of  the  yard  a  great 
amount  of  public  weighing  is  done.  The  barn  man  does 
all  this  weighing. 

The  cement  shed  is  24  by  60  feet  in  size,  is  located  on  the 
railroad  siding  and  has  its  floor  level  with  the  car  floors. 
This  reduces  the  expense  of  handling  materially.  On  the 
delivery  side  are  two  sliding  doors  and  the  house  is  divided 
into  two  rooms,  tho  there  is  a  large  opening  thru  the  parti- 
tion. This  building  has  a  cement  floor.  Farther  back  along 


152  RETAIL  LUMBER  SHEDS 

the  siding  are  open  bins  into  which  sand  and  grit  are  shoveled 
directly  from  the  cars,  and  the  brick  that  the  company 
handles  is  wheeled  out  of  the  cars  over  movable  bridging. 
The  opposite  corner  of  the  yard  back  of  the  shingle  and  lath 
platform  is  being  covered  with  cinders  and  will  be  used  for 
the  storage  of  posts.  Along  the  edge  of  the  yard  by  the  ware- 
house the  sewer  tile  is  piled.  This  is  the  north  edge  of  the 
yard,  and  this  stuff  breaks  the  force  of  the  heavy  winds  in 
winter. 


A  THREE-ALLEY  SHED 

Most  lumbermen  building  a  shed  as  large  as  this  will 
have  very  definite  ideas  of  their  own  about  designs.  Such  a 
shed  should  be  planned  much  more  in  detail  than  space  and 
the  size  of  these  pages  will  permit  of  being  shown  in  this 
book.  But  the  accompanying  cross  section  is  included  in  the 
hope  that  it  will  be  at  least  suggestive.  It  is  the  cross  section 


Part    of   Front   Elevation  j 

of  a  large  shed  planned  and  built  by  A.  H.  Doane,  of  Win- 
field,  Kan.  Mr.  Doane  made  a  long  and  careful  study  of  all 
the  sheds  and  shed  plans  to  which  he  had  access.  The  front 
of  his  shed  is  149  feet  wide.  The  three  alleys  are  each  18  feet 
wide.  Most  retailers  would  prefer  them,  at  least  the  center 
one,  to  be  wider  by  four  or  more  feet.  The  1 8-foot  space  to 
the  left  of  the  left  alley  as  one  enters  the  shed  is  devoted  to  the 
public  and  private  offices,  sash  and  door  room,  store  room, 

153 


154  RETAIL  LUMBER  SHEDS 

molding  bins,  casings  and  base  storage  and  lime  and  cement 
wareroom.  The  two  central  double  rows  of  bins  are  each  32 
feet  in  width.  The  alley  on  the  office  side  extends  clear  thru. 
There  is  a  cross  alley  at  the  back  leaving  a  tier  of  bins  20  feet 
deep  along  the  rear  end  of  the  shed.  There  is  also  a  cross 
alley  thru  the  central  block  of  bins  next  the  office  side,  leav- 
ing a  block  32  feet,  6  inches  long  next  the  street  and  49  feet, 
6  inches  long  in  the  rear.  The  other  central  block  has  a 
passage  way  leading  thru  it  near  the  front  of  the  shed.  This 
shed,  which  is  140  feet  long,  has  an  estimated  storage  capacity 
of  1,500,000  feet  of  lumber. 


A  SHED  OF  SIMPLE  FRAMING 

The  accompanying  design  is  included  here  because  of  the 
simplicity  of  the  framing.  It  frequently  happens  that  a  yard 
needs  an  extra  shed  for  the  storage  of  overflow  stock.  If  a 
simple  design  is  selected  it  is  possible  during  a  slack  season 
for  the  yard  men  to  build  the  shed  with  the  help  of  a  little 
extra  and  only  moderately  skilled  labor. 

This  shed  is  62  feet  wide  and  may  be  made  as  long  as  is 


Cross  Section  Single-Alley  Shed 


desired.  Bins  9  feet  wide  on  center  are  recommended.  The 
posts  measure  12  feet  to  the  eaves  and  16  feet,  6  inches  along 
the  alley  and  including  the  offset  in  the  roof.  These  offsets 
each  carry  a  row  of  windows  for  lighting  purposes,  but 
windows  should  not  be  depended  on  solely  for  ventilation. 
A  suitable  number  of  correctly  designed  ventilators  along 
the  comb  should  be  considered  a  prime  necessity. 

If  desired  this  design  may  be  followed  in  building  the 

155 


156  RETAIL  LUMBER  SHEDS 

main  shed  and  can  be  modified  to  include  the  necessary  office 
rooms  and  millwork  storage  bins.  But  it  was  designed  pri- 
marily as  an  auxiliary  storage  shed  to  contain  nothing  but 
open  storage  bins. 


ODD  GROUND  PLANS 

It  becomes  necessary  at  times  for  retailers  to  design  yard 
buildings  for  special  purposes  and  to  arrange  sheds  to  fit 
odd-sized  lots.  There  seems  to  be  no  limit  to  the  number  of 
these  special  problems,  and  it  is,  of  course,  impossible  to  deal 
with  many  of  them,  ev.en  in  a  general  way.  The  following 
plans  are  not  intended  to  illustrate  any  universal  principles. 
They  are  introduced  here  merely  as  suggestions. 

One  special  design  frequently  asked  for  is  a  combination 
of  lumber  office  and  hardware  store.  An  increasing  number 
of  lumber  retailers  are  putting  in  stocks  of  paints  and  hard- 
ware ;  and  indeed  in  small  towns  some  are  carrying  groceries 
or  general  merchandise.  The  space  necessary  for  carrying 
these  merchandise  stocks  is  usually  small;  but  definite  pro- 
vision must  be  made  for  it  in  planning  the  building.  Few,  if 
any,  buildings  designed  solely  to  be  lumber  offices  can  be 
used  to  advantage  in  carrying  even  the  smallest  lots  of 
merchandise. 

Two  outline  plans  are  presented  here.  Either  can  be 
altered  easily  to  meet  the  special  needs  of  any  prospective 
builder.  Each  is  located  in  a  building  that  turns  a  square 
corner,  a  type  of  building  that  is  widely  popular  among  lum- 
bermen. Plan  No.  i  has  the  office  and  store  facing  the  main 
street.  The  office  itself  is  in  the  corner  with  the  store  extend- 
ing into  one  wing,  and  the  sales  room,  bookkeeper's  room, 
private  office,  vault  and  lavatory  extending  into  the  other. 
The  order  desk  is  the  focal  point  of  the  office.  The  order 

157 


-158 


RETAIL  LUMBER  SHEDS 


clerk  can  go  directly  behind  the  counter  in  the  store,  out  into 
the  yard,  or  into  the  private  office  or  salesroom.  The  book- 
keeper has  a  room  back  of  the  order  counter.  If  it  is  desired 
scales  can  be  located  out  in  the  yard  with  the  scale  beam  in 


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this  room.  The  private  office  overlooks  the  yard,  is  remote 
enough  to  assure  privacy  and  still  opens  directly  into  the 
salesroom  and  thru  the  bookkeeper's  room  into  the  public 
office.  The  salesroom  with  its  samples  of  millwork  and  its 
plans  and  other  building  helps  is  next  the  office  and  still  is 
cut  off  so  as  to  assure  quiet  to  the  customers  who  are  laboring 


ODD  GROUND  PLANS 


159 


over  their  plans.  The  storeroom  is  small,  but  if  desired  it 
can  be  enlarged  by  increasing  the  length  of  that  wing.  One 
defect  of  this  design  is  the  fact  that  teams  on  entering  the  yard 
do  not  pass  directly  by  the  office.  Farmer  customers  and 
others  who  haul  their  own  stock  will  have  to  come  in  thru  the 


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Combined  Office  and  Store 


rear  door  from  the  yard  to  settle  their  bills,  and  for  this  pur- 
pose the  order  desk  is  curved  around  to  face  the  space  just 
inside  this  door.  Much  business  would  be  done  at  this  end  of 
the  desk.  Two  large  windows  are  included  in  the  plan. 
These  may  be  used  for  display  windows  or  not  as  desired. 
Number  2  is  of  the  same  general  design  but  differs  in  a 


STREET 

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For  a  Narrow  Yard 


ODD  GROUND  PLANS  161 

number  of  details.  The  public  office  is  in  the  corner,  but  the 
entryway  of  the  yard  is  under  roof  and  is  located  between 
the  office  and  the  warehouse.  The  private  office  is  in  the 
corner  next  the  drive  and  is  entered  thru  a  door  that  opens 
behind  the  order  desk.  The  salesroom  is  beyond  the  store. 
If  this  salesroom  were  intended  as  a  general  congregating 
place  its  location  would  be  unfortunate.  Customers  will  not 
walk  thru  a  storeroom  to  reach  a  lounging  room.  They  will 
hang  around  the  order  desk  or  else  will  leave  the  place.  But 
the  salesroom  is  intended  to  be  a  quiet  place  where  people 
intent  upon  learning  something  about  the  art  of  house  plan- 
ning and  building  may  have  a  certain  amount  of  uninter- 
rupted privacy.  For  this  purpose  the  location  at  the  rear 
of  the  store,  other  things  being  equal,  is  good.  Scales  are 
located  in  the  drive  with  the  beam  behind  the  order  desk. 
Space  over  the  office  can  be  used  for  the  storage  of  flooring. 
By  using  a  hoist  heavy  hardware  can  be  stored  either  above 
the  office  or  on  the  second  floor  of  the  warehouse. 

The  three  remaining  plans  shown  herewith  are  of  odd- 
shaped  yards.  The  first,  or  No.  3,  is  located  on  a  long  and 
narrow  piece  of  ground  with  a  railroad  siding  running  the 
entire  length.  The  special  requirements  stipulated  were 
sheds  for  most  of  the  stock  with  a  certain  amount  of  open 
space  for  outdoor  piling  of  posts  and  the  like.  The  ground 
is  about  65  feet  in  width.  The  requirements  were  met  by 
dividing  the  yard  into  three  parts :  office,  single-alley  shed 
and  an  open  shed  facing  an  open  piling  plot. 

The  office  extends  clear  across  the  front.  In  the  corner 
is  the  public  office  with  its  order  desk.  Next  to  this  along 
the  side  street  is  the  private  office.  Opposite  the  private  * 


162  RETAIL  LUMBER  SHEDS 

office  is  the  vault  with  its  door  opening  behind  the  order  desk 
and  the  washroom  opening  into  the  salesroom.  A  passage 
way  extending  between  the  private  office  on  the  one  side 
and  the  vault  and  washroom  on  the  other  leads  into  the  sales- 
room. 

The  driveway  into  the  shed  is  next  the  office  and  at  right 
angles  to  the  shed  alley.  Since  this  alley  must  accommodate 
a  siding  and  freight  cars  it  is  made  28  feet  wide,  leaving  the 
bins  on  either  side  1 8  feet  in  depth.  If  the  lot  were  still  more 
narrow  it  would  be  possible  to  economize  in  alley  space  by 
running  the  siding  closer  to  the  side  of  the  shed  opposite  the 
front  driveway  and  by  using  all  or  most  of  that  side  for  mate- 
rials kept  in  tight  bins  or  for  short  lengths  or  shingles  or 
other  stock  that  can  be  handled  fairly  well  in  rather  cramped 
space. 

The  open  shed  recommended  for  the  remainder  of  the 
stock  is  one  designed  by  the  Pratt  Lumber  Co.  and  described 
on  another  page.  This  shed  has  a  bin  depth  of  18  feet  and 
a  hood  14  feet  wide.  This  unusual  width  of  hood  allows  for 
a  drive  between  the  bins  and  the  railroad  tracks  and  permits 
the  unloading  of  lumber  in  comfort  on  stormy  days.  Stock 
is  carried  over  this  1 4-foot  space  by  means  of  gravity  unload- 
ers.  This  open  shed  along  the  street  serves  to  inclose  the 
yard.  Farmers  or  others  doing  their  own  delivering  may  be 
notified  by  a  sign  to  enter  the  yard  by  the  gate  at  the  end 
opposite  to  the  office.  With  the  stock  arranged  in  rotation  so 
that  the  heavy  stuff  is  at  that  end  a  mixed  load  may  be  put 
on  without  doubling  back.  Then  the  finished  load  emerges 
thru  the  driveway  past  the  office. 

Plan  No.  4  is  of  a  triangular  yard.    Any  yard  that  departs 


ODD  GROUND  PLANS 


163 


from  rectangular  form  must  be  a  law  until  itself.  But  as  a 
very  general  principle  to  which  there  are  numerous  excep- 
tions it  is  well  to  avoid  all  but  rectangular  buildings  and  to 
avoid  setting  them  in  any  but  rectangular  forms.  If  one 
building  faces  north  and  another  northwest  the  chances  are 


PROPERTY  LINE 


OPEN    SH£D 
INCLOSED   UPPER  DECK 


I 


GATE 


GATE 


NO.  4- 


A  Triangular  Yard 


that  getting  around  from  one  to  the  other  will  be  difficult 
and  that  space  will  be  wasted.  In  this  plan  an  open  or  semi- 
inclosed  shed  is  laid  out  along  the  two  sides  that  are  perpen- 
dicular to  each  other,  and  the  office  building  and  the  cement 
house  are  set  so  as  to  leave  a  driveway  between  them  and  the 
sheds.  Ready  access  may  be  had  to  all  the  buildings  with 


164 


RETAIL  LUMBER  SHEDS 


the  least  danger  of  obstruction.  If  a  rectangular  yard  is  large 
enough  the  buildings  and  sheds  may  be  located  around  the 
outside  with  an  open  piling  space  in  the  center. 

Plan  No.  5  illustrates  no  general  principle  unless  it  be  the 
advisability  of  looking  out  for  easy  access  to  all  sheds  and 


MILLWOW 

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DRIVE 


OPEN   SHED 


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STABLE 


STREET 


NO,   5 

An   Irregular  Yard 


buildings.  In  .a  yard  of  this  type  the  temptation  is  to  crowd 
buildings  together  in  order  to  utilize  all  possible  space  with 
the  result  that  they  are  inaccessible  to  delivery  wagons.  It 
is  better  if  all  the  space  can  not  be  utilized  for  buildings  to 
leave  open  space  in  the  center  for  post  piles  and  the  like. 


Books  for  Lumbermen 

Climax  Tally  Book 

For  hardwood  lumbermen,  110  pages,  size  closed  4%x 
8%  inches.  Finger  straps  to  hold  book  open  when  tally- 
ing. One  copy  $1.00,  six  $5.50,  twelve  $10.00. 

Collections  by  Eetail  Lumber  Dealers 

A  series  of  letters  by  subscribers  to  the  AMERICAN 
LUMBERMAN-,  giving  their  views  on  the  best  way  to 
handle  the  accounts  of  a  retail  lumber  business.  These 
letters  offer  many  excellent  ideas,  and  it  will  well  repay 
any  retail  lumber  dealer  to  read  them  carefully.  Fifteen 
cents,  postpaid. 

The    American    Lumberman's    Vest     Pocket    Ready 
Reckoner 

Seventy-two  pages  of  tables,  showing  the  contents  of 
any  number  of  pieces  of  dimension  lumber  from  1x8-10 
to  12x20-40,  including  also  table  of  freights,  weights  of 
lumber,  shingles,  lath,  doors,  sash,  blinds,  styles  of 
siding  and  the  different  log  scales.  Twenty-five  cents, 
postpaid,  five  copies  $1. 

Chapin's  Lumber  Reckoner 

Reduces  to  board  measure  lumber,  scantling,  square  tim- 
ber and  saw  logs.  Morocco  $3,  cloth  $2,  postpaid. 

The  Organization  of  the  Lumber  Industry 

This  volume,  from  the  AMERICAN  LUMBERMAN  press,  em- 
braces the  most  thorough  and  comprehensive  study  thus 
far  undertaken  of  price  movements  and  ranges  in  the 
lumber  industry  and  their  economic  causes.  Price  $2. 
Cloth  bound. 

Science  of  Organization  and  Business  Development 

By  R.  J.  Frank.  A  treatise  on  the  law  and  science 
of  the  promotion,  organization,  reorganization  and  man- 
agement of  business  corporations,  with  special  refer- 
ence to  approved  plans  and  procedure  for  the  financing 
of  modern  business  enterprises.  Morocco,  $2.75. 

The  Practical  Lumber  Man 

Short  methods  of  figuring  lumber,  octagon  spars,  logs  ; 
specifications  and  lumber  carrying  capacity  of  vessels 
and  a  great  deal  of  other  information  applying  to  the 
lumber  business  of  the  Pacific  coast.  $1.50,  postpaid. 

Nicholson   on  Factory  Organization  and  Costs 

By  J.  Lee  Nicholson,  certified  public  accountant  and  fac- 
tory costs  specialist.  $12.50,  postpaid. 

Bungalowcraft 

A  book  on  bungalow  and  cottage  building  in  its  latest 
development.  Heavy  paper  cover  $1,  postpaid. 


We  will  be  glad  to  send  complete  descriptive 
matter  of  any  or  all  these  books 


AMERICAN  LUMBERMAN 

431  S.  Dearborn  St.  CHICAGO,  ILL. 


The 

Lumberman's 
Actuary 


The  n  e  w  sixth 
edition,  which  has 
150  pages  more  than 
the  preceding,  shows 
at  a  glance  the 
amount  of  any  num- 
ber of  feet  between 
2  feet  and  29,000 
feet  at  any  price  be- 
tween $6  and  $75  a 
thousand  feet,  thus  : 
at  $6.00,  $6.25, 
$6.50,  $6.75,  $7.00 
and  so  on  to  $75.00. 
It  also  shows  the 
feet  in  any  number 
of  pieces  between  1 
and  2,000  pieces  for 
any  thickness,  as 
inch,  inch  and  one- 
quarter,  inch  and 
one-half,  two  inches 
and  up  to  twelve 
inches,  and  for  any  width  from  2  to  24  inches.  It  con- 
tains also  tables  for  figuring  the  cost  of  any  number 
of  thousands  of  lath  or  shingles  from  85  cents  to  $6.00 
a  thousand,  and  a  loader's  table  showing  the  number 
of  pieces  it  will  take  of  any  given  measure  to  make  a 
given  number  of  board  feet. 

For  the  use  of  retail  lumbermen  and  contractors  the 
section  of  the  Actuary  devoted  to  estimating  is  alone 
worth  the  cost  of  the  book,  as  it  prevents  errors  in 
making  out  bills  and  estimates  and  saves  much  time 
in  figuring  the  average  cost  of  performing  all  kinds  of 
labor  in  the  erection  of  buildings,  including  masons, 
carpenters  and  painters,  arranged  in  a  systematic 
manner  for  easy  reference. 

For  figuring  moldings,  lumber  bills,  car  freights, 
car  invoices,  yard  inventories,  odd  sizes,  etc.,  the  Ac- 
tuary does  a  man's  work  and  does  it  accurately  ^ 

One  feature  of  the  book  is  the  specially  devised  cut- 
in  index  which  brings  all  sizes  under  your  eye  at  one 
glance.  All  lengths  on  the  same  page. 

In  addition  the  Lumbermen's  Actuary  has  a  table  for 
determining  the  list  price  of  new  mouldings,  a  table  of 
prices  on  door  and  window  stock,  a  table  of  measure- 
ments on  wall  board  in  32-  and  48-inch  widths,  a  table 
showing  the  square  feet  in  the  ceiling  and  four  walls 
of  rooms  of  various  sizes  and  tables  estimating  the 
quantities  of  various  items  of  lumber,  shingles,  mill- 
work,  etc.,  required  for  the  covering  of  given  surfaces 
etc.  A  very  useful  table  of  wire  nails,  kinds  and  quan- 
tities required  for  various  work,  formula  for  strength 
of  joists,  table  of  straight  loads,  holding  power  of 
nails,  cubic  foot  unit  cost  of  buildings  of  different 
kinds,  a  table  of  average  day's  work  in  different  kinds 
of  building  labor  and  a  number  of  other  very  useful 
tables  of  reference  information  which  the  retail  lum- 
berman or  builder  often  requires. 

The  size  of  the  Actuary  when  closed  is  4x8x%  inches 
and  it  fits  the  hip  or  side  pocket  conveniently. 


Price,  postpaid,  bound  in  Leather,  $5.00;  in  Cloth 
$4.50.     Sample  pages  for  the  asking. 


Bound  in  green  silk  cloth,  illus- 
trated in  tint.  Third  edition, 
and  still  selling.  $  1 .25  postpaid. 


The  funniest  prose  writ- 
ings ^of  "the  lumberman 
poet,"  the  Aesop  of  the 


lumberyard.     $1.00  postpaid 


Full  of  the  spirit  of  the  camp, 


r  un  or   me  spirit  or  me  camp, 
the  trail  and  the  great  outdoors. 


me  Liauaiiu  me  g  i  cai  outdoors. 
You    owe    yourself    and    your 


$1.00  postpaid, 


A  bright  little  brochure 
now  in  its  seventh  edition. 
Twenty- fivecentspostpaid. 


A  Vivid  Story 

of  the  life  every  lumberman 
knows  woven  around  a  typical 
lumber  town  of  scarcely  one 
thousand  souls  far  up  on  Lake 
Superior,  makes 

Glory  £  Pines 

By  Dr.  William  Chalmers  Covert 

mighty  good  reading  for  those 
who  have  won  by  hard  knocks 
and  hard  work. 

Illustrated  and  printed  ia 
good  readable  <M  OC 
type.postpaid.  **•*«) 

American  Lumberman 

431  South  Dearborn  Street,  CHICAGO 


House  Plans  That 
Bring  Results 

We  give  you  only  the 
very  latest  and  most  prac- 
tical house  plans.  All  are 
especially  designed  for 
our  readers  by  America's 
foremost  architects.  The 
probable  cost  of  these 
houses  range  from  $1600 
to  $2800. 

Try  them  and  watch 
the  results. 


Clinch  the  House  Bills 
In  Your  Community 

If  you  could  talk  with  every  prospective  builder 
in  your  county  there's  no  question  but  that  you 
would  have  a  mighty  good  opportunity  of  landing 
their  orders.  You  can  do  this  very 
thing  for  a  very  nominal  sum — 

Advertise  in  Your 
Home  Paper 


Lumber  Ads  That 
Attract  Attention 

That's  what  you  need 
to  increase  your  business 
and  profits.  Six  single 
column  and  six  double 
column  ads  that  are  going 
like  hot  cakes  because 
dealers  find  they're  mon- 
ey-makers. 

Ask  for  Bulletin 
Now. 


We  issue  advertising  bulletins 
quarterly  to  help  you  advertise 
lumber  in  an  interesting  way. 
The  above  photo  is  from  one  of 
the  house  plan  ads  in  the  last  bul- 
letin. The  probable  cost  of  this 
attractive  bungalow  is  $1950. 
Besides  this  plan  there  are  4  other 
house  plans  and  12  retail  ads.  If 
you  haven't  received  the  last  bul- 
letin, ask  for  it  now — it's  free. 

American  Lumberman 

431  So.  Dearborn  St. 
CHICAGO 


A  Roof  to  Last 
Forty  Years 

That's  what  we  claim  for 
the  shingles  we  sell,  but  weonlf 
got  the  nerve  to  come  out  in 
the  open  and  declare  it  since 
we  put  in  our  stock  of  zinc 
coated  nails.  We  have  proof 
of  these  nails  actually  wearing 
over  30  fears  and  good  even 
then  for  10  rears  longer.  Let 
u*  show  you  the  shingle*  we 
recommend  to  be  used  with 
these  nail*.  Come  in  today. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 
BERKELEY 


Return  to  desk  from  which  borrowed. 
This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below. 


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